He wasn’t asked to do too much, but Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields did enough Sunday in Atlanta to help steer the Steelers to an 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Fields found out just before the game that he was starting in place of the injured Russell Wilson, who popped up on the injury report last Thursday with the calf injury that was similar to the one he suffered in training camp. With Wilson out, Fields had to get ready in a hurry late in the week for the season opener.
To his credit, he played well enough, not trying to do too much while piloting the Steelers’ offense.
Fields’ performance doesn’t look all that great from a stats perspective — just 156 passing yards on 17-of-23 completions, but it was enough to leave an impact on former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky.
Appearing on ESPN Radio’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct Monday morning, Orlovsky said that he believes Fields “threw the ball remarkably well” against the Falcons and did enough to be the starter moving forward.
“Russell wouldn’t play for me, with the way Justin played. I’ve been on play Justin train and yesterday one, I thought Justin managed the game very well, which is kind of one of the things we wanted from him. He realized defense was dominant, didn’t have to try and do too much,” Orlovsky said, according to audio via the show. “I thought they would’ve scored more points if not for stalling out a little bit. Kind of like the fringe red zone. So I did like some of the stuff that their offense did. He threw the ball remarkably well. Downfield to George Pickens, created some big plays, so I love that. Some of the designed quarterback running scrambles were big.
“I think the two things that you want to see is one, just to have a little bit more understanding of some matchups. I thought there was some matchups that you sit there and go, ‘Justin, you got Pickens in the slot on a linebacker.'”
Fields was fine. Nothing more, nothing less.
He operated within the offense just fine. He made the throws that were there, including hitting Pickens for a pair of explosive plays down the field. He should have had a third, too, if not for a hilariously bad offensive pass interference call on Pickens with cornerback A.J. Terrell in coverage.
Overall, Fields hit Pickens for gains of 40 and 33 yards, which accounted for nearly half of Fields’ passing yards on the day. Therefore, 15 other completions from the young quarterback accounted for just 83 yards. The passing chart backs up that he wasn’t asked to do much, which again is fine.
When he cut it loose downfield, he threw some good footballs.
But the overhyping of his overall performance, and not just from Orlovsky, is going to lead to a long few days ahead. Fields was fine. He avoided the mistakes and made the plays that were there.
That’s a good step in the right direction for him, but it doesn’t need to be hyped up beyond than that.
We’ll see if he gets an opportunity to build off it moving forward.
