All summer long since the start of training camp, the conversation regarding who should be the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers has raged on. Will it be Russell Wilson? Should it be Justin Fields?
Former Steelers’ head coach and Hall of Famer Bill Cowher knows all about quarterback competitions. He had plenty during his time in Pittsburgh and figured out how to handle them — eventually. So, when he speaks about how he would handle a QB competition going into the regular season, ears perk up.
For Cowher, who appeared on the Pat McAfee Show Monday, he would roll with Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback but have a package of plays for Fields in a change-of-pace fashion, helping limit the expectations for the young quarterback in the process.
“…You start the season with Russell and I say it for this reason: Justin Fields, if he starts as a second guy, have a package of plays. Let Justin, if all of a sudden you need a spark, something to kind of incite you get your offense going again, put put him in. If you have to take Russell out, he’s been there before, it’s not gonna destroy his confidence,” Cowher said of what he’d do with the starting quarterback situation, according to video via McAfee’s Twitter page.
“I don’t wanna start Justin Fields and feel like I have to make a change and I take him out, I would worry about him, ‘oh, all of a sudden I didn’t live up to the expectations.’ Limit the expectation you put on Justin Fields. Let him be Justin Fields, let him get to know this offense and get really comfortable with this offense. Hopefully, Arthur will have a series of plays ’cause he’s still gonna be the best runner they have on that offense.
Starting the season with Wilson as the starting quarterback for the Steelers makes the most sense, even with all of the calls for Fields being the guy due to the dynamic abilities he brings to the table.
“So let [Fields] use his legs, let him use all the things that he can, bring the improvisation that he has with the plays, and when things do break down, he can make it up. So, I would take the pressure off of Justin, start Russell. Russell may take it and run with it, but at the same time, I think that’s the way you have to enter the season.”
Fields has certainly opened some eyes with his ability to create when things break down, which they have often in the preseason. But putting Wilson as the starting quarterback gives Pittsburgh some stability entering the start of the season. He’s the veteran, a leader that many players have gravitated towards, and a guy that communicates very well, which will help a new offense early in the season.
That’s not to say Fields isn’t that type of guy, but right now Wilson is standing out from that aspect.
So, Wilson should be handed the keys to the car and given the opportunity to take the first laps around the track. That allows Fields to sit and learn and immerse himself more into the offense, and if Wilson and the Steelers’ offense sputters or is slow out of the gates, that could create an opening for Fields to step into the driver’s seat.
It’s easier to do it that way with a young quarterback with elite-level traits, allowing him to sit and learn and let the offense work out some kinks under coordinator Arthur Smith early on, rather than being the guy right out of the chute, and if he struggles, that’s it for him.
If the Steelers truly believe in Fields long-term, you don’t want to crush his confidence early in the season in a new scheme while playing for a new contract. Wilson knows what he signed up for. Two different teams have moved on from him, too. He knows the business and the expectations.
Fields knows it, too, but he’s a younger quarterback who is still establishing himself in the NFL. It might be easier to come off the bench mid-season or mid-game, rather than being the one having the plug pulled after expectations were too much.
