Throughout much of the first half during Sunday’s game against the Colts, and even early in the second half, Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Justin Fields wasn’t all that sharp.
He held onto the ball too long in the pocket on a few occasions and took some bad sacks, including one late in the first half that nearly cost the Steelers a field goal.
Then, in the third quarter on a third and short, instead of throwing hot to beat the blitz, Fields tried to play hero ball and scrambled, losing 20 yards and fumbling the football away, costing the Steelers points in the process.
That type of mistake in the past would have snowballed for him. But in his first season with the Steelers, that mistake lit a fire underneath him and propelled him to close the game in impressive fashion, nearly leading the Steelers back for either the game-tying field goal or a potential win.
For former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman, Fields’ performance Sunday against the Colts showed a lot of growth and maturity, especially after the fumble that cost the Steelers points.
“And for Justin Fields to take the kind of step he did in the second half of this game, first half was still kind of rough. We can talk about the fumble, just a bad play where he should have just got rid of it and saved a bad play, but trying to do too much. But he could have folded right there. He could have went into the tube. He could have went into the hole,” Sherman said of Fields on the latest episode of his podcast, according to video via his YouTube page. “And at times last year with the Chicago Bears, he did. And problems got compounded, but he showed a real growth in this game, 312 yards, 10 rushes per 55 yards and 2 touchdowns when he needed to use his legs, he did.
“And he didn’t lean on them. He didn’t say, ‘Man, I gotta use my legs, I’m scared to throw it. He threw it when he could.”
Prior to the fumble, Fields was having some issues overall. He was holding the football too long and took some bad sacks, not helping out his offensive line in the process.
Then, he had the scramble on the third down, fumbling the football away in the process in what was an all-around disastrous play in which he missed a read and then let the play snowball into something negative.
But, to Fields’ credit, he didn’t let it get any worse than that. In fact, Fields seemingly flipped a switch and got better after that, making some great throws down the stretch. He led the Steelers to three straight touchdown drives, something they hadn’t done since the 2021 season against Minnesota.
He nearly brought the Steelers all the way back, and did so with his arm while mixing in some designed runs, particularly in the red zone. It was a rather impressive performance from the fourth-year quarterback, who responded to adversity in a big way on the road.
That’s encouraging moving forward.
