WESA Talking Steelers: Wilson still hurt, o-line musical chairs, powder blue or black and gold?

It feels like forever since the Steelers played a home game. Indeed, if you don't count the preseason, the last time the Steelers played at Acrisure Stadium, Santa Claus hadn't even come yet. It was a win over the Cincinnati Bengals on December 23, 2023. But the Black and Gold hopes to keep the good tidings and cheer they've experienced thus far this season and extend their record to three wins and no losses. But to do that, they're going to have to get past another 2-0 team, the L.A. Chargers.

Jim Wexell writes for 247sports.com, has covered the Steelers since 1995, and he joined 90.5 WESA "All Things Considered" host Jeremy Scott to discuss this Sunday's game on the North Shore.

Jeremy Scott: Jim, I don't want to be accused of not rooting for the home team here, but if football wins and losses were based purely on jerseys, the Chargers may win every single Sunday. I'm sorry, but those those powder blue beauties may be unmatched in the National Football League. So my question to you to start this: if we were to hold an NFL jersey tournament, who would be your national champion, or at least who would be in your national championship?

Jim Wexell: Man, it's hard to go against black and gold and black and orange of the Chicago Bears. And I like the black jerseys. I like the Northeast. I like the villainous jerseys. I don't know. I'm not a big powder blue guy.

Scott: Not a big powder blue guy. So you say you like the black jersey. So do the Raiders count towards that? 

Wexell: I love the Raiders jerseys. Yeah, is that a mascot or an insignia on their helmet? That pirate with the knife. That's pretty cool. I like that. Yeah. The Raiders rank up there, too.

Scott Okay, so can you answer the question then? Off the top of your head, who would be your national champion or who would at least be in your national championship?

Wexell: I'm going to take the home crowd and say the Pittsburgh Steelers. I got some people on my side for that one. I think that's part of the allure. I did a book called "Steeler Nation." I traveled around the country trying to find out what it is everyone loves about this team. And I tell you. Jerseys and the jersey colors rank up there in the reasons. So I don't want to dismiss that and you know I like the jerseys. I like the Bears, too. The Colts are pretty cool. Yeah, that that's as far as I want to go.

Scott: So the Steelers were awfully quick to place a couple of their core special teamers on injured reserve this week, Ben Skowronek and Tyler Matakevich. This means they have to sit out at least four games. Now we're coming up on three games for which quarterback Russell Wilson will not have been active if current trends hold. Even after Mike Tomlin downplayed the severity of the injuries I was talking about just a second ago during his weekly news conference this week, the team was so quick to put those role players, those lesser known guys, on injured reserve, yet they did not do that with Wilson when he supposedly merely tweaked his calf before game one. Jim, am I reaching here when I say it feels like this is inconsistent and there is more to the Wilson injury in the situation than meets the eye?

Wexell: No, I mean, he can throw. He can stand in the pocket and throw. He can hand off. So he can do some emergency things that Tyler Matakevich couldn't do. He can't run down the field and make a tackle on special teams. And there are guys out there who can. They went and got James Pierre, who I'm sure will be a gunner. They'll elevate him off the practice squad and be a gunner. He was available. So Russell is the emergency quarterback and they better block for him because he's really not too mobile but he can throw. He's thrown a bit in practice.

Scott: Speaking of the offense, you covered the entire tenure of the last offensive coordinator, Matt Canada. We're three games into the Arthur Smith era to this point. What have you observed in general that is different and, for that matter, similar between the two?

Wexell: Man, he sees things. I mean, Darnell Washington catching a touchdown pass in the red zone, for one. I mean, those are the kind of things he sees. He sees that Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris might be a good combo out on the field together. He had George Pickens come around on a reverse and line up wide and he was in position to take a short pass deep in the backfield and run. It was setting up that disastrous play a couple of series later where he lost ten yards. But he's thinking ahead like that. I don't remember Canada setting up plays like that. This guy knows what he's doing. I mean, the scores look the same. He didn't throw in the middle of the field because of Jesse Bates, with whom he's very familiar. So he had a reason for not throwing in the middle of the field against the Falcons. So there are reasons for the things he does and he is planning ahead and he's setting plays up and he's utilizing the talented hand such as Darnell Washington.

Scott: The Steelers did something this past Sunday I have never seen an NFL team do in rotating, or at least trying to rotate, their offensive tackles. You had Troy Fautanu, the rookie, start the game. They went down the field and scored and then after Fautanu came out of that drive, you had Broderick Jones come in the next drive. He committed some egregious penalties that precipitated putting Fautanu back into the game. And then Broderick Jones did not see the field for the rest of the game. You are around the team on a weekly basis. You're in the locker room. How is Jones handling this? Because he was drafted last year to be the left tackle of the future and now he can't even make it in at right tackle.

Wexell: Jones is handling it fine. He's a good dude. He has a good temperament. He understands that he is lost. He is the third guy. And what people aren't going to like is, again, are the quotes in the locker room today. He was telling us that he does not want to be a part of a rotation, and that's not going to go over well with fans who are probably going to think that's some kind of backlash towards the coach. But it's not. If you talk to veteran offensive lineman — and I was on the Wolfley and Max Starks Show. I asked them before this last week if Fautanu might rotate in and they said, no. Linemen don't do that. They don't do that on the offensive line. You get in a groove with the player you're playing against. You start setting him up for moves. You don't rotate at that position. And sure enough, they did that and it was disastrous. And now Jones is saying again he doesn't want to rotate. So tomorrow, there'll be a backlash from fans, I'm sure, but it's just not something offensive linemen like to do. I think, also, Jones is trying to get across to us that he is not a baby about this. He doesn't need to be pampered. He doesn't need to be rotated in. He gets it. He lost the competition. He wants to win. He wants to play. And he just has to focus and play harder and and get that big brace off of his right arm. I have a feeling that's affecting his play and he won't use that as an excuse.

Scott: Like the expert you are, you correctly called week one. You called it a low scoring affair that the Steelers would win. That's exactly what happened. Last week, pretty much the same thing. You called a Steelers victory and another low scoring game. What's going to happen this week?

Wexell: I'm not sure what the over-under is, but I'm going to take a higher scoring game because I think the offense is on the verge of breaking out a little. I think they're going to score 20. I think they're going to score over 17. And that's the golden number for this team in the T.J. Watt era. They score over 17 points and they win. I'm going to say 20-17 and I'm going to say Justin Fields brings them from behind. That's going to be a tough call against those pass rushers. But this is going to be a really good game. It's set up to be the classic under game. The way these both of these teams run the ball, the way they want to run the ball. Now, the Harbaugh in L.A. is very similar to the Harbaugh in Baltimore in that he grabbed a bunch of his players and converted a defensive lineman into a 300 pound fullback and got the Ravens center, got two Ravens running backs, got a Ravens tight end. And they're going to run the ball but they have a good quarterback. He's a little immobile, so the Steelers won't have to worry about him running and they can pass rush. They can tee off with their own pass rushers. So I think it's going to be a great game. "Fistfight at the 50" is how somebody defined it to me; another reporter, and I like it. I just think I think this is going to be the game when Justin Fields really makes this a quarterback controversy by bringing this team from behind. I'm saying I'm going to say 20-17, Steelers.