Steelers' Russell Wilson Victim Of Brutal Tirade As Biggest Hater Revoked His Apology: 'He Still Sucks'

   

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson does not have a fan in Mark Schlereth. The former offensive lineman turned analyst rarely has anything complimentary to say about him. When the Steelers signed Wilson, Schlereth told everyone he didn't think this solved their quarterback problem. He seemed to buy into the narrative of their former team, the Denver Broncos. However, Schlereth had a great experience winning Super Bowls in Denver, while Wilson was despised by his coach and ran out of town. 

Steelers' Russell Wilson Victim Of Brutal Tirade As Biggest Hater Revoked His Apology: 'He Still Sucks'

When Head Coach Mike Tomlin announced Wilson would start after his calf injury healed over Justin Fields, Schlereth was confounded. Schlereth believed that Wilson had little left in his tank and would fail to win games in the Steel City. That's why so many were impressed by Schlereth coming out and admitting he was wrong when Wilson helped get the Steelers to 10-3. Schlereth said he was terrible in Denver, but Pittsburgh built a system that worked for Wilson, and it showed. 

Then the season's final four games arrived, and the Steelers lost all of them. Schlereth is back to gloat as Pittsburgh heads south to face the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card game Saturday night. On his show, The Stinkin Truth Podcast with Mark Schlereth, he said he is taking that apology back. 

"Russ has not been as good," said Schlereth. "Russ does what Russ always does: takes a bunch of sacks trying to hold on to the ball, not throwing it in the middle of the football field. He's regressed back to what I thought he was before he took over for Pittsburgh when they were 4-2. I had to eat a little crow and say, 'Hey, I apologize' and everything else, and then you know what? All the apologies that I gave, it turns out that even when I'm wrong, I'm right. Even in my incorrectness, I was correct; he still sucks."

Schlereth said the problem with taking the sacks that Wilson takes, and there were 14 of them just in those four losses, is that you don't just lose the down, but also yardage. It makes it that much harder for an offense that is already struggling.  

However, the blame doesn't lie entirely with Wilson. The offensive line has regressed as the season has gone on. Both George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth had a significant number of dropped balls in past weeks. Schlereth said those things might be true, but he thinks the last four games of the regular season are more indicative of who Wilson is as a quarterback.  

"The Rusties are going to put and make excuses for Russell Wilson and say, 'Well, he wasn't bad. It's not his fault that everybody dropped footballs.' You're right. It's 100% not his fault that George Pickens' hands are made of feet. That dude was dropping balls like it was his job to drop balls. It was unbelievable. Then he had Freiermuth move down the seam and threw a really good pass at the end of that game against Cincinnati. He dropped it. But the three games before that, they got beat all three by double digits."

The Steelers are currently 10-point underdogs, according to Vegas. That is even though the Steelers have dominated the Ravens in their last 10 meetings. 

Steelers' Justin Fields Should See Action

Schlereth quickly pointed out that he doesn't think Fields is a better alternative to Wilson, noting he also takes too many sacks. However, he still thinks they should start him against the Ravens. 

He believes that Baltimore will not have prepared for him as well as they did for Wilson. They also didn't face Fields this year as the starter. Both of the games came after Wilson took over. He thinks that element of the unknown could give the Steelers the spark they need to win. 

Fields has only started against the Ravens once when he was with the Chicago Bears, and it was a close game. During the Week 11 win, he carried the ball twice for 17 yards. 

Do you agree that Wilson is as bad as Schlereth says? Click to