The Pittsburgh Steelers debuted three out of four new quarterbacks, led by Justin Fields, in their first preseason game. Russell Wilson did not play, and John Rhys Plumlee did not play quarterback, although he recorded a special teams tackle. So, how did Fields do in his first in-stadium work with the Steelers? Former NFL QB J.T. O’Sullivan broke down his game for The QB School, a YouTube channel dedicated to such endeavors.
“I thought it looked pretty good”, O’Sullivan said about Fields in his conclusion to an extended video. “It looked alright”. He did belabor the point about his botched quarterback exchanges, saying it can cast a negative light on everything. Considering Mike Tomlin said similar things, I think that’s fair, but he does look beyond that variable, as well.
“I think if you peeled that back, there were some positives. I think I can see some stride in [Justin Fields’] game as far as the tempo he’s playing with”. He continued, “I saw some anticipation, saw some nice ‘drive’ throws. Now, was it consistent, precise ball control, putting it exactly where he wants all the time? No. Was there some wasted movement in the drops, the timing element? Yeah”.
Fields played the first couple of drives of the Steelers’ preseason opener, which produced zero points. He went 5-for-6, throwing for 67 yards, but he took two sacks on possession downs. He also had the aforementioned pair of botched center exchanges, which helped stall both drives.
“You put all those things together and it’s probably a hodgepodge of a performance, but overall I thought there were some slight steps in the right direction”, O’Sullivan said of Fields. “We’ll see what it looks like, we’ll see if it’s a real competition. We’ll see what Russell [Wilson] looks like, all those things, moving forward”.
Justin Fields has run the first-team offense throughout training camp after Russell Wilson injured his calf during the Steelers’ conditioning test. Tomlin said that he expects Wilson back in a more full capacity shortly, but has Fields sufficiently made this a genuine competition?
Those of us on the outside can’t answer that question, but it’s easy to believe the Steelers are more intrigued. Fields spent the spring running as the backup on the second-string offense, so he has really gotten his most valuable work, by far, in the past couple of weeks.
That limited window in the first preseason game certainly doesn’t paint a complete picture of Fields. Personally, I think they gave way too many snaps to Kyle Allen unless they plan to play him in the final two games.
Arthur Smith talked about how the Steelers are looking at the long game now, part of which is evaluating Fields. But they will need to see more than two drives at the start of a preseason game to get a better feel for who he is and if he can be their starter—especially if they are considering starting him over Russell Wilson.
