Neither Russell Wilson nor Justin Fields has looked particularly good throughout the preseason, but considering they’re new to the Pittsburgh Steelers, maybe their slow start can be forgiven. There’s still one preseason game left to play, so maybe they’ll provide a better product and silence doubters. However, at the moment, the Steelers’ quarterback situation is just a punching bag for the media, with analyst Jason McIntyre believing that there is no good solution to this quarterback battle.
Appearing as a guest host on Colin Cowherd’s show The Herd, McIntyre spoke about his feelings on the Steelers’ quarterback battle.
“This is a mid-off at quarterback,” McIntyre said. “It is uninspiring. I don’t want to say downright pathetic because I think Fields has some upside in the right spot, but it is not going well in Pittsburgh.”
That’s about the only thing close to sensible that McIntyre says about the Steelers. It is fair to say both quarterbacks have looked bad in the preseason, but with Fields, there was growth shown. In the first preseason game, he struggled, with two fumbled snaps basically killing any momentum the offense had. However, in the second preseason game, Fields bounced back nicely. He didn’t look incredible, but there was more good than bad.
An argument could be made that Fields only looked better because he was mostly playing backups, but he was also playing alongside more second-string players too. People criticized Fields for missing a big throw that looked like it should’ve been a touchdown, but just as much blame could be placed on the receiver on that play.
The point here is that Wilson’s first preseason action came in the second game. While he didn’t look good, he also didn’t have the entire playbook available to him. Therefore, it’s fair to believe Wilson could look better in his second start of the preseason. The rust is gone, and he’ll have full command of the offense. Those two things should allow him to put forth a better performance.
McIntyre calling the two Steelers quarterbacks mediocre isn’t necessarily an insult either. Last year, the Steelers would have killed for mediocre quarterback play. What they had was downright terrible. If their starting quarterback this year is “mid,” then the offense should at least be better than it has been for the past few years.
It’s unfortunate that anything the Steelers’ offense does shy of the Greatest Show on Turf isn’t going to stop these conversations from happening throughout the entire season. No matter if the offense is good or bad, people are always going to talking about the Steelers’ quarterback.
Even if the starting offense performs well in the final preseason game, pundits will probably continue to bash one of the quarterbacks, although Wilson and Fields still look infinitely better than every quarterback the Steelers have had since Ben Roethlisberger retired. It’s a step in the right direction for a team still searching for its next franchise quarterback.
