One of the leading narratives this week is going to be a bunch of people in the national media talking about how Justin Fields needs to continue starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers, even when Russell Wilson is healthy.
People already appear ready to toss Wilson, a potential future Hall-of-Fame quarterback, aside before he ever suits up in a regular-season game for the team.
Despite his recent criticism of Wilson, Stephen A. Smith actually took the counter stance to what many others have been saying this morning.
“I think they should go with Wilson,” Smith said via ESPN’s First Take this morning. “Fields is the future, we all know this. But I want to see what Russell Wilson does in the Steelers uniform…I don’t mind if you go back to Fields, but I want to see Russell Wilson in a Steelers uniform and let’s see what he does, especially after this kind of showing from Justin Fields. Six field goals.”
Fields did enough to win, but did he make the most of his golden opportunity?
He completed 17 of his 23 pass attempts for 156 yards, zero touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He only took two sacks and fumbled the ball just one time on the first offensive snap. He recovered that botched snap for a three-yard gain.
On one hand, Fields limited the two biggest critiques of his play. He protected the football and didn’t take too many unnecessary sacks. On the other hand, he didn’t distribute the ball well in the passing game and relied too much on his legs to make plays.
I don’t want to paint the mobility and rushing abilities as a negative. Fields converted five of the Steelers’ third downs with his legs, after all. That was one of the big reasons they were able to win the time-of-possession battle and extend drives to get points on the board with Chris Boswell’s leg.
The issue is, the Steelers won’t always be protecting leads in the second half like they mostly were on Sunday. If the Steelers find themselves trailing by one or two possessions in the second half, which is inevitable at some point in the season, will Fields be able to operate a viable and efficient passing attack to help them claw their way back to victory?
His history as a starter suggests that is not the case. In 39 career starts, Fields has just two fourth-quarter comebacks and one game-winning drive. He isn’t really built for that type of game, and that is an issue for a full-time starter.
Meanwhile, Wilson has 31 career fourth-quarter comebacks and 39 game-winning drives. He is top 10 all-time in both statistics. We all know how much the Steelers tend to play in one-possession games, so the importance of that stat for Wilson and Fields can’t be discounted.
“I want to see a quarterback that’s experienced that can throw with some accuracy. Let me see [Pat] Freiermuth, and [George] Pickens and these boys utilized,” Smith said. “Let’s see what Russell Wilson does in a Steelers uniform before we make the decision that Justin Fields is the way to go…Let’s see Russ. I just want at least one start.”
Ultimately, the QB1 decision already was made when Mike Tomlin named Wilson the starting quarterback. I would be surprised if this middle-of-the-road performance by Fields did anything to change that.
