Justin Fields wasn’t supposed to start Week 1 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but after Russell Wilson re-aggravated his calf injury during practice on Thursday, Fields took over as QB1 and helped lead the Steelers to an 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons. With Pittsburgh now 1-0 with Fields under center, he was asked about keeping the job.
“I’m not even worried about that. I just came in wanting to win, and I’m glad that we’re leaving here with a win. In terms of who’s starting, who’s not, all I want to do is win at the end of the day. So I’m really not even gonna get into all that. I came here to win. No matter if I was gonna throw for 300 yards, 100 yards, no yards. I came here to win. So that’s the only focus I have,” Fields said via Steelers.com.
That’s the right mentality to have and you love to see it. Today, Fields did his job and helped the Steelers win, and that’s what matters. Focusing on next week and what’s going to happen is futile, especially because we don’t even know if Russell Wilson will be healthy enough to go in Denver.
Mike Tomlin was non-committal when asked who will start going forward, but Fields proved today that the Steelers can win with him under center. It wasn’t a super aggressive game plan, one that was fairly run heavy, but Fields took a few shots and connected with George Pickens on two explosive plays downfield. He used his legs well, running 14 times for 57 yards.
At the end of the day, Fields did his job and won against a good opponent. His performance didn’t set the world on fire, but he did was he was asked to do, which was avoid turnovers and move the offense.
It wasn’t all pretty, as there were two botched C/QB exchanges and the Steelers didn’t score a touchdown, relying on six Chris Boswell field goals to win them the game. But as Fields said, he came to Pittsburgh to win, and he played a role in the team winning today.
We’ll see what happens going forward, whether it’s Fields or Wilson under center, but it’s nice to start the season 1-0. Fields should be able to bask in the win for a little bit and his performance today before worrying about whether he’ll start in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos.
