The Pittsburgh Steelers had two major weaknesses last year at quarterback and offensive coordinator. This year, it looks like they’ve solved those problems. Arthur Smith and Justin Fields have both been a breath of fresh air. Fields isn’t officially the starting quarterback yet, but it feels like only a matter of time until he is. It sounds like Smith wouldn’t be opposed to that. Analyst Robert Mays of The Athletic has heard that Smith is really enjoying working with Fields.
“You can just see that he’s playing with so much more confidence now than he was over the last couple of years,” Mays said on a recent episode of The Athletic Football Show. “And I do think that, talking to people there, Arthur Smith is really enjoying working with him. I think that their relationship has been good. I think you can kind of feel the fact that that dynamic is a positive for that offense right now.”
Mays is correct that the positive relationship between Fields and Smith can be felt on the field. When the season started, it seemed like both Fields and the coaching staff were nervous. They originally went with Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback, but an injury forced them to play Fields.
However, things have only trended upward since Week 1. Fields has been given more opportunities, and he’s mostly capitalized on them. He and Smith have seemed to form a good connection. Even though they’re both new to the Steelers, they’ve both done a good job fitting in.
Smith seemed particularly impressed with how Fields almost won the Steelers the game against the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers couldn’t run the ball, so they turned to Fields to give them a spark. He wasn’t perfect, but he put in a fantastic effort.
Mike Tomlin recently hinted that Fields actually has a chance to keep the starting job. It’s unfortunate because Wilson never did anything wrong, but there are too many reasons to justify taking Fields out as a bad idea. That is also especially true if he and Smith are working well together. That relationship between play-caller and quarterback is incredibly important.
Fields shouldn’t be forced to win the Steelers’ upcoming game, but if things get dire again, maybe they’ll turn to him sooner. The Dallas Cowboys’ run defense is poor, though, so they should be fine getting their ground game going. As long as Fields continues to avoid major mistakes, it sounds like he’s on the right track to continue being the starter. It doesn’t sound like too many people would be upset about that.
