The Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2) are traveling to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders (2-3) in Week 6. Both teams have question marks at quarterback and are hoping to gain some clarity this weekend.
Here are three Steelers who could impact the game the most:
Quarterback Justin Fields
Fields’ leash seems to be getting quite short following back-to-back losses. He is in line to make his sixth straight start but quarterback Russell Wilson is ready to play if needed after practicing in full this week.
“I’m preparing my mind to get ready to go and everything else,” Wilson said. “So that’s kind of my mentality and help us win and whatever that is.”
Whether that happens will be dependent on Fields’ play on Sunday. He hasn’t done anything to lose the job, but he hasn’t done anything to keep it, either.
Through five games, Fields has thrown for 961 yards and five touchdowns while also rushing for 172 yards and another three scores.
The No. 11 overall pick from 2021 could hold off Wilson for another week with a strong performance. If not, however, Wilson may just make his regular-season debut.
Wide receiver George Pickens
Pickens has been the talk of the town since his poor showing during Pittsburgh’s Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on “Sunday Night Football.”
The third-year wide receiver wore black eye tape that read “Open (expletive) Always,” showed very little effort during his route-running on several occasions and pulled the face mask of Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis as the clock hit zero.
To cap it all off, Pickens finished the game with just three catches for a season-low 26 yards.
Despite all of that, though, Pickens’ coaches and teammates have defended him this week.
“Is George a bad teammate? Absolutely not,” Wilson said. “Is George a hell of a player? Absolutely. Is he a great competitor? Absolutely. Is he a guy that wants the ball? Absolutely.”
If Pickens acts similarly this week, it will not only hurt the Steelers’ chances of winning, but also his chances of remaining in Pittsburgh.
Linebacker Patrick Queen
Las Vegas’ offense will look very different on Sunday compared to a couple of weeks ago.
This week, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce named second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell the starter while also confirming that wide receiver Davante Adams (hamstring) will miss his second straight game.
Steelers DC Teryl Austin knows that is a big loss for the Raiders, but emphasized that his defense must still be on top of its game.
“When you have Davante, you know you’d better take care of him,” Austin said. “They’re spreading it around and everybody is able to get it and working hard to get it, we’ve got to be really on top of our stuff.”
One player who is being asked to do more with Adams sidelined is first-round rookie tight end Brock Bowers. The No. 13 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft already has 28 catches for 313 yards and a touchdown on the year.
Queen will likely be given the task of minimizing Bowers’ impact in the middle of the field on Sunday and Austin is more than confident in him getting the job done.
“I think he’s playing really good football for us,” Austin said of Queen. “He is leading us out there. He is running and hitting. He’s doing all the things we thought he would do when we got him.”
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.