Report: Russell Wilson tells Steelers he can play, but final decision won’t be his

Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson aggravated his calf injury during practice this week. Not surprisingly, he wants to play.

Via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Wilson “has told the team that he can play.” However, “team doctors are being more cautious.” A final decision will be made on Sunday.

This meshes with our report from Friday night that Wilson has a “chance” to play, and that the final call could be made during pregame warmups.

The Steelers are fine with either Wilson or Justin Fields. As explained earlier, the question becomes whether they’re more comfortable with Fields at 100 percent or Wilson at something less than that.

However it goes, Wilson’s position needs to be ignored. He’s teetering toward the point where he sees his own football mortality. That can cause a player to make a bad decision about trying to force his way toward a football fountain of youth.

Given how close the competition was, the smart play will be Fields. Which will make things interesting if Fields plays well. Which is all the more reason for Wilson to want to play.