Today is Tuesday, which means Mike Tomlin will address the media later today and inevitably be asked about the starting quarterback situation. Justin Fields started in Week 1 after the Pittsburgh Steelers held Russell Wilson out due to calf tightness from an aggravation of his training camp injury.
Fields got a win on the road against the Atlanta Falcons, whom many experts were high on entering the season, but was it enough to change the official QB1 on the depth chart? Remember, it was just two weeks ago that Tomlin named Wilson the starter entering the season.
A panel of ESPN analysts debated this topic on Get Up this morning.
“I was on the sideline the whole game, and I almost got hit with almost every Justin Fields pass because they didn’t throw it over the middle of the field one time,” Dan Graziano said. “Fields did what they needed him to do. Obviously he’d rather finish drives with touchdowns than six field goals, and I think they feel like Fields is still a guy that they have work to do on, right?
“So, I think when Russell Wilson’s calf is healthy, they will go back to him.”
Graziano wasn’t kidding when he said Fields didn’t throw to the middle of the field a single time. Below is his passing chart via Next Gen Stats. It is reminiscent of a Matt Canada and Kenny Pickett game plan. Though I get that they were trying to avoid Falcons safeties Jessie Bates III and Justin Simmons in the middle of the field.
It remains to be seen if Wilson is healthy enough for the Steelers’ medical staff to put him on the field. Wilson reportedly told the team he was good to play against the Falcons, but they chose to be cautious. There were over 40 days between the initial injury and his aggravation of it last Thursday, and that included quite a bit of rest and an overall cautious approach by the Steelers.
I would think Wilson is going to be pushing Tomlin and the medical staff a little extra this week to play against the Denver Broncos, who are paying him over $30 million this season not to play for them.
“Fields played well enough to win. They will go back to Wilson and let Fields continue to develop,” Jeff Saturday said. “I think Fields is their future. I think Wilson is their present. As soon as he’s healthy, he’ll be back as their starter.”
Two of the panelists think Wilson should get the job back, but it wasn’t unanimous. It was a 50-50 split.
“I’d stick with Fields,” Domonique Foxworth said. “Neither Russell [n]or Fields [are] inspiring at all right now for this team, but Fields managed, and I think the ceiling is higher for him. The problem with Russell is he’s a low ceiling and a low floor. At least Fields has a low floor and a high ceiling.”
Obviously Fields has a higher ceiling being a decade younger than Wilson, but has he shown signs of reaching that? I don’t really think he has, and Wilson undeniably outplayed Fields in 2023 during one of the worst seasons of his 12-year career.
For Damien Woody, it comes down to Wilson’s age and his nagging calf injury.
“I would stick with Justin Fields,” Woody said. “Older players don’t get healthier. This injury is going to linger. Russell Wilson is already a diminished athlete. What upside is it gonna bring in the passing game?”
The answer to his question lies in the passing chart that I linked above. If you follow that Next Gen Stats link to Russell Wilson’s page from last year, he actually utilized the middle of the field. Not as much as a lot of other quarterbacks, but he still used it.
The way Fields won isn’t sustainable in every situation. It wouldn’t work if the Steelers were playing from behind late in a game, for example. You have to be able to utilize the middle of the field, or at least threaten the middle every so often to keep the defense honest.
We will know in just a couple hours which quarterback gets the nod, though there is a chance Tomlin says they are still evaluating Wilson’s health. If that’s the case, this could drag on until 90 minutes before kickoff on Sunday once again.
