Pittsburgh Steelers QB Justin Fields led the team to an 18-10 Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons after finding out he was officially going to start pre-game, and head coach Mike Tomlin liked what he saw out of Fields on Sunday. In his press conference on Tuesday, Tomlin said there was “a lot of good” in Fields’ first regular-season performance for the Steelers.
“I thought he settled in as the game progressed. I thought he had clear eyes in weighty moments. I thought he was a good communicator in some of those moments where we had some discussions,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel.
Tomlin specifically mentioned the first third down the Steelers faced where they left the ball in Fields’ hands for what looked like a scramble. Tomlin said it was a designed quarterback run and Fields was able to pick up the first down, an example of him communicating and executing well in big moments.
“It was a lot of good. It’s just good to be in a stadium with a guy. You’re speculating until you are, and I just know a heck of a lot more about him because of that experience,” Tomlin said. “And I’m sure he knows more about himself in this environment and us, so it’s just really good things to build upon.”
Fields did what he was asked to do. He moved the chains, he didn’t turn the ball over, and he put the Steelers in position to score. Sure, not scoring any touchdowns isn’t something to celebrate, but a win is. And Fields did a good job getting the Steelers in field goal range and using the weapon they have in Chris Boswell to put points on the board.
With Fields in line to start again on Sunday against the Denver Broncos, the Steelers will likely want to see a similar performance out of him. With a full week where he’ll likely work with the first-team offense, Arthur Smith could look to open up the playbook a little more too and have a more fleshed out game plan. That could lead to Fields taking more shots or operating just a little bit differently in the passing game than he did against the Falcons.
Fields did a good job with his legs, running 14 times for 57 yards, and there should be a healthy dose of that again on Sunday. Overall, there wasn’t too much negative to take away from Fields’ performance, outside of some inaccurate passes that he probably should’ve made. But he took profit when he could, took a few shots downfield to George Pickens, and got the win. As Tomlin said, it gave the Steelers familiarity with Fields and a lot to build from.
It’ll be interesting to see how Fields looks with another opportunity likely upcoming.
