Will Russell Wilson play vs. Falcons? Dr. David Chao talks QB's calf injury

Intro Russell Wilson is still dealing with a lingering calf injury will he play Sunday against the Falcons that's next with the special guest on the believe and Steelers show today's episode of the BetOnline.ag ad read believe and Steelers show is brought to you by betonline.ag the Steelers are 3 point underdogs to the Falcons and if you want to get in on the action go over to betonline.ag use our promo code believe that's bleav to get started over at betonline.ag BetOnline the game Starts Here welcome into the believe in Will Russell Wilson play vs. Falcons? Steelers show I'm your host Mark Bergen joined today by the Man known as pro football doc on social media he is Dr David Chow and Dr Chow thank you for your time this morning I want to get started right away Russell Wilson listed as questionable with a lingering calf injury do you think he plays Sunday when the Steelers take on the Atlanta Falcons well there's no question calf injuries are tricky they can linger we talked about it all pre season and the decision to play and or not is always what I call multifactorial could Russell Wilson play the answer is for sure yes will Russell be Wilson be 100% if he plays no and where it becomes a coaching decision is a less than 100% Russell Wilson that could make the calf worse against the Justin Fields who's full fully healthy so this becomes a Mike Tomlin decision look Joe burrow division opponent Cincinnati Bengals last year played with a calf injury I get it Joe bur is a little more of a pocket quarterback than Russell but he played in a CF injury week one lost wasn't great week two lost last year wasn't great and there was a ton of chatter about he's going to sit week three I believe in sports injury Central Podcast he said no I don't think it's that simple because if rusting a calf injury for one week would put Joe burrow at 100% the undoubtedly the Bengals would do that but it's an injury that lingers one week of rest wasn't going to C cure Joe burrow and the Bengals certainly couldn't start the season last year 0 and three so they played Joe burrow and they won right it's still in the end with the wrist injury for Joe bur a different story but that's the consideration here for Mike Tomlin and the Steelers there's undoubtedly reason to rest Russell Wilson and if one week would do it you're gonna for sure rest him the problem is one week isn't necessarily GNA do it this was a preseason injury from the calf and there's acclamation and other injuries that can happen from favoring it so this why it's a coaching decision and the coaching decision is different in Pittsburgh than it was in Cincinnati you have Russell Wilson Justin fields and you're can argue where they kind of are maybe right and there are options so given that there are options like that clearly I think the Steelers wanted to start Russell Wilson you all named him the so captain that was the plan and with this injury the question is do they say no we're still G to go with this and we'll have a short lease on Russ Russell Wilson if he gets pulled or I think what's going to happen is this is going to be the excuse to sit him Russell you're not 100% let's go and let's see what Justin field will can do and if he does well then maybe it gives more chance for Russell Wilson to rest longer and truly get to 100% And you got to understand uh being a running quarterback there's always risk of injury you know to Justin field so even if Justin Fields quote wins the job in the first week or two here from playing that doesn't leave Russell Wilson out of the picture looking at the whole story here I think Russell Wilson sits because there's other options right and uh sits for how long it depends right and uh uh but this is why I always say return to play is always tricky and playing you know the injury itself you can know what it is but it has to be unanimous the player has to say they're ready to go and willing to go and it seems like Russell Wilson will always say that right even if he's not 100% y medical has to say it's okay to play and medical would say yeah it's okay to play but you have a risk of reag grav of the injury and then the team has to say we want you to play I.E we really need this game we don't have another choice or you know what let's not play because let's not make this into a six8 week deal let's make keep this relatively short term and we have another option and so because of that it's my belief that likely Russell Wilson will set wow this goes back to the start of training K and Russell Wilson missed the first 10 practices you get an extended look of Justin Fields hearing this news this week that the calf injury was still an issue surprised me did that surprise you at all no it didn't and it seemed like on Thursday it actually got worse now the reports are it quote tightened up but that's like code word right I mean felt it down there that maybe mild aggravation but it seems like it was aggravated on Thursday he went in a different direction from Wednesday and once that happens it doesn't turn around in days and uh so it doesn't surprise me calf injuries linger a few years ago Aaron Rogers in Green Bay in December had a calf injury and he played through it and at Sports Injury Central we said look this is going to linger and it can linger all the way into the playoffs and famously that Year Aaron Rogers had many chances to run and never ran in those playoffs because of the calf so it doesn't surprise me that it lingers this is why right off the bat when the 49ers had CMC with a mild calf they just said we're shut down for the whole preseason we're not even going to look at bringing him back at all early to be safe so no it doesn't surprise me unfortunately another question I wanted QBs doing sled drills in training camp to ask you Dr Chow is he initially aggravated this injury as part of a sled conditioning C uh test at the very start of training camp is this something that other teams ask their quarterbacks to do the thing I was confused about is why the Steelers have a quarterback moving a sled of some sort as part of their conditioning test going into training camp you have a lot of experience covering the league and working in the league do other teams have their quarterbacks do this type of test depends on the team and the conditioning test often our standard and it's not like you're with the sled you know you got seven bodies on it he's at being asked to move thousands of pounds but Russell Wilson just like any other quarterback is a football player often kickers are asked to do the same conditioning test because guess what you're on the team now some teams will make other exceptions and otherwise and who knows it's quite possible that Mike Tomlin said we're not doing that for you Russell Wilson or the quarterbacks but he wanted to show his boys that he's part of the team he's no different than everybody else so there's a lot that goes into it it's easy to place blame I mean you know it's the age old should we play a guy in preseason no play him yeah but he gets slow start no don't play him he gets slow start the season you should have played him but then you do play him and some injury pops up oh you're so dumb you shouldn't have played the guy right there's a fine line balance so from afar it's hard for me to be critical of that I mean quite honestly I get the attentions on the quarterback Steelers offensive line injuries but I would have to ask you my concern from afar in analyzing the Steelers is your offensive line I mean Nate herig out and seoa the left guard and uh you know and he's the best one on the team he's the best offensive lineman on the team in sealo so yeah and so you got two you got 40% of your starters out Rodrick Jones is he flipping over is he what's he doing and and you know Dan Moore you got have tried to replace Dan Moore for years with draft picks and otherwise which means I mean he's not a bad player but he's not like your stalwart and I don't know from afar internally how much Shuffle that does I mean if Nate herig Out means one of the guards is moving over is it like is there a tremendous Shuffle that o line I think is going to be the bigger issue than than what happens at quarterback and Fields Mobility can help negate some of the issues that you're going to have from the onslaught lot of the pass rushers who am I talking about here Matthew judon who just came over so you know go you go from right from the frying pan right into the fire regardless of who Pittsburgh puts back there at the quarterback position come Sunday yeah and uh so it'll be an interesting uh interesting game and we'll see what happens but yeah that o line and and that o line May factor into the decision on Russell Wilson saying it's you're not being that mobile doesn't match up well clearly the Steelers were intending for Russell Wilson to start with the Sol solitary Captain but given the o line issues given the calf injury given situationally a fast track indoors this opens up a door to say Russell you're still our starter we wanted you to start but look you're we're putting You In Harm's Way in this game let's not do this kind of thing and that's why another reason why I think Justin Fields is going to be the starter yeah seu can't go I would expect Spencer Anderson to step in it looks like with her Big's injury up front the rookie Zack Frasier second round pick out of West Virginia would be due to get his first start you mentioned brri Jones which side's he playing on still a young player only in his second year so you've got a lot of Youth on that offensive line going into this game last question and at center right as you know that's a huge deal because it's about line continuity and uh the center is the quarterback of that line typically right in terms of the blocking scheme and which direction and and uh calling out blocking schemes Etc I'm not sure they're going to continue to give that job to the the young guy Center but that's typically the person that that does that and so there that's the issue that I'm most worried about for your Steelers the last question want to ask If Justin Fields starts, who is the backup QB? you Dr Chow is if Fields is the starter Sunday is there any possibility on Sunday that Wilson serves as the backup meaning he'd only go in in the event that Fields goes down with an injury well that does not typically happen uh part of it is if you're not healthy if you're the supposed starter and you're healthy enough to play and take up a roster spot are you then why don't you just start the game and the other thing is I don't know maybe Mark you can answer this question for me is there a third quarterback on the roster for the Steelers or no they had Kyle Allen in the pre-season and I believe he made the initial 53 man roster so I believe it would be Kyle Allen who would be the backup if Russell Wilson is not active come Sunday that's my understand they're gonna have a backup I mean but I mean on but in order to be on the the third quarterback you have to be on the active roster and look teams don't like if Russell Wilson isn't healthy enough to start the game we'll call him half instead of full you can't suit up one and a half quarterbacks that just doesn't make sense right because the first can't go out imagine it'd be it'd be Allen but which means you'd have to use the roster spot Etc right uh kind of situation years ago not to get sidetracked uh Jared Goff injured his thumb and I was famously wrong I said he injured his thumb he late season for the Rams he finished the game then he had a pen or something put in his thumb missed the final week and I said he's starting the playoff game against the Seahawks he's starting that game for sure and uh sure enough he did not start that game right before the game but he was active and there wasn't a third quarterback on the roster what that told me is that Jared gof fell out of favor with Shawn McVey but was healthy enough to play because he didn't have all the practice time all week they gave the start to someone else but they didn't activate a third quarterback meaning his thumb was good enough to play and sure enough that next offseason the trade with Matthew Stafford happened wow it was almost the precursor well that's why I said it it told me that Jared look if you're the solid okay back in the days of Big Ben yeah if he didn't practice all week he's still the starter period end of discussion right if Jared Goff is all a sudden not the starter because he didn't practice all week that means it's a 1A 1B situation in the eyes of the coach and this is why I'm saying having been on the other side of the fence so to speak these are the discussions that go on and that's a little insight discussions of why I believe Russell Wilson will not get the start because there is Justin fields and the oine issues ETC but because there is a little bit of a 1A 1B situation right if this were Big Ben with the calf and the previous Steelers quarterback situation Ben Rosenberger would start week one here no question right well this is the luxury when you're paying both players less than $5 million combined this season so that's I I think that factors into this as well versus the premium that you were paying Big Ben no question no question about it now Russell Wilson's still getting a lot of Denver money I think you're not lying there you're not lying there he is Dr Thank you, Dr. David Chao David Chow Dr Chow if there's anything that you need to plug with the work that you do certainly appreciate your time this morning if you go to siic score.com Sports Injury Central we have field views up of the Atlanta and Pittsburgh game offense defense you can flip them you can see Nate hering's red the the left guard for the Steelers you can see the injury issues on Atlanta there's scores for offense defense run offense run defense and uh it can also help you out with your fantasy plays throughout the league Etc we're hopefully the best and really main source of injury analysis like you heard here as opposed to injury reporting we are not reporting that Russell Wilson is not starting the game we're doing analysis saying that he could play but because of these other factors we don't see him being the starters for the the starter for this game thank you to Dr Chow Our Guest today my name is Mark Bergen and this has been another edition of the believe in Steelers show if you enjoyed listening please leave us a five star review on Apple and Spotify hit that subscribe button on YouTube I'll be live on this feed immediately after the Steelers and Falcons thank you again to Dr trow today's guest my name is Mark Bergen hope all of you have terrific rest of your weekends start of the season is here I'll see you Sunday till then take care and so long everybody