Stephen A. Smith has ripped into Russell Wilson amid his dismal preseason with the Pittsburgh Steelers, telling the veteran quarterback: ‘You’re beginning to p*** me off.’
Wilson is gearing up for his debut campaign as a Steeler after signing a one-year, $1.2million contract with the team back in March, following his release at the end of a disastrous stint with the Denver Broncos.
The 35-year-old has hardly hit the ground running in Pittsburgh, either, completing just eight of 10 passes for 47 yards in Saturday’s 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills. He also took three sacks during five scoreless series.
Justin Fields, who is expected to play second-fiddle at quarterback this season, helped put their only puts on the board on the night.
Despite his struggles against the Bills, Wilson played down concerns over the Steelers offense and urged fans not to panic in a press conference on Wednesday.
Stephen A. Smith (left) has ripped into Russell Wilson (right) amid his dismal preseason with the Pittsburgh Steelers
And those comments have not gone down well with ESPN analyst Smith, who unleashed on him in a furious rant live on the latest edition of First Take.
‘Russell Wilson you’re beginning to p*** me off,’ he fumed to the camera. ‘Somebody’s got to say it, so I’m going to say it.
‘You stunk last year, you were paid $37.8million to go away. The Denver Broncos were willing to eat nearly $38m dollars to get rid of you, and you’re sitting there fighting for a starting job with Justin Fields.
‘You ain’t fighting for a starting job with Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or somebody. It’s Justin Fields you’re fighting for a job with.’
Smith went on to brutally mock Wilson over his fiancee Ciara Wilson, insisting the American singer has represented his only success in recent years.
‘And he’s sitting there with some smile on his face talking about [how] everybody just needs to relax,’ he continued about the former Super Bowl winner. ‘You ain’t Aaron Rodgers, you don’t get to say that, you got to show up. You wearing the black and gold now, you’re a Steeler.
Wilson endured a miserable outing at quarterback against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night
Smith went on to tell the veteran quarterback that his only success in recent years has been having fiancee Ciara (right) by his side
‘I said it last year I’m going to say it again, the only damn thing good that you brought to Denver was Ciara.’
Not everyone believes Wilson is a problem for the Steelers heading into the new NFL season, however.
According to legendary former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, the team’s offensive struggles lie in different areas of the field.
‘I think they have bigger problems than at the quarterback position. The offensive line had a hard time being consistent there,’ Belichick said on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’.
‘They lost the tackles … They have a rookie center, and the guards, they’ve had some issues too in the preseason games.
‘They need to get the running game going, they have good backs, they need to get those backs started,’ Belichick added. ‘Russell’s good out of the pocket. But I think the problems are bigger than Russell Wilson. I think it’s really offensive line and the running game.’
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