Russell Wilson said Thursday he's "getting closer and closer" to a return to the field after enduring a setback with a calf injury he first suffered in training camp.
Could he return to the field by Sunday, when the Pittsburgh Steelers head off to face Wilson's former team, the Denver Broncos, and coach Sean Payton? Wilson wasn't tipping his hand Thursday after practice.
"I'm just trying to be smart," Wilson said, via ESPN.com.
"Got to do a lot of work today on the field and everything else, throwing and all that, so just trying to be smart," Wilson added.
Wilson has been listed as a limited participant in this week's practices after missing the Steelers' Week 1 victory at Atlanta. He said it was a "pretty strong, pretty good calf injury" when he initially suffered it in the preseason.
After Wilson warmed up prior to last week's game, he and head coach Mike Tomlin decided to sit him in the opener with the calf not responding properly.
"So that was disappointing," he said. "But we kept our heads up, we worked our butts off every day in the training room. ... We spent a lot of time just to kind of get ready, and so when I tweaked it again it was like, 'OK, yeah, we got to be smart here and not crazy push it too bad. "Obviously, I want to be out there in between the white lines with our teammates."
Justin Fields took over for Wilson as the starter, completing 17 of 23 passes for 156 yards and rushing 14 times for 57 yards. The Steelers went on six scoring drives, but all ended with field goals. They were 0 for 2 in the red zone, including a turnover on downs in the fourth quarter at the Atlanta 6-yard line.
Wilson was the emergency third QB last week, with Kyle Allen serving as Fields' backup.
As for whether he wants to play this weekend, Wilson said, "I think right now I want to go" but also doubled down on his intention of being smart with the injury.
"Anybody who knows me, I always want to go and play and that's how I get my mind ready, my body ready for that, to play," Wilson said. "At the end of the day, I believe you got to play dinged-up sometimes.
"I think coach (Tomlin) … and the trainers just want to be smart, too, as well just because it's early in the season. I think that if this is the last-game-of-the-season kind of thing, or one of those kinds of games, we're definitely going."
But if he can't go, Wilson said he thinks he'll be able to help the Steelers with some intel on the team he spent the previous two seasons playing for.
"I got some insight for sure," he said.
