Much has been made over the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation with Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, with Fields now slated to start his second straight game following Wilson re-aggravating his calf injury. But former NFL head coach Bill Belichick, now one of the panelists on Inside The NFL, says it doesn’t matter who’s at quarterback, because Mike Tomlin’s gameplan will always be the same.
“Mike Tomlin gameplan’s the same every week, doesn’t matter who the quarterback was and what year it is. Play good defense, turn the ball over, try to get the running game going, but play good field position, make him drive it against that defense, don’t give up many points and win. I don’t want to say win ugly, but win,” Belichick said on Inside The NFL.
As someone who’s coached against Tomlin and prepared to play against his teams, Belichick has a unique look into the process of how the Steelers and Tomlin prepare week-to-week. And Belichick is certainly right that for the last number of seasons, that’s really been Pittsburgh’s gameplan. Even during the Killer B’s Era, the Steelers relied on their ground game and Le’Veon Bell, although they were much more explosive through the air due to the weapons they had and Ben Roethlisberger.
But late-career Roethlisberger wasn’t the same player, while Kenny Pickett had his limitations, and the Steelers turned to their ball-control offense on an even bigger scale. Of course, it didn’t work as well with Pickett in Pittsburgh due to Matt Canada calling plays, although Pickett just simply wasn’t all that great, either. Now, with Fields and Wilson, the Steelers have two quarterbacks who can thrive in that style of offense with a much better play-caller in Arthur Smith.
Wilson has more accuracy and a better deep ball than Fields, so if he’s under center, the Steelers can still ground and pound and then look to take their shots. Wilson won’t miss on some of the underneath throws that Fields did in Week 1. But Fields adds a different element with his rushing ability, a skill that has the Denver Broncos treating him like a running back on Sunday. That helps him move the chain and extend plays, which ultimately helps Pittsburgh nicely execute their game plan.
Defensively, the Steelers are one of the league’s elites, so forcing teams to try and drive on them often leads to getting the ball back in the offense’s hands. Against the Falcons on Sunday, Atlanta had the ball for just 10:41 in the second half and had three turnovers. Getting the opposing offense off the field and keeping Pittsburgh’s defense fresh by then sustaining drives is hugely important for the Steelers to have success, and it worked on Sunday.
While the gameplan might vary slightly depending on circumstances, Belichick is right that the general principle is the same, no matter the quarterback. We’ll see how Tomlin and the Steelers try to attack Denver on both sides of the ball tomorrow in their quest to go 2-0.
