Who will be the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the rest of the year? That’s the million-dollar question in Pittsburgh right now. Justin Fields looked like he had a firm hold on the job, but a subpar performance against the Dallas Cowboys has opened the door for Russell Wilson. Former NFL corner Adam “Pacman” Jones believes this is a dumb question because everyone already knows the answer.
“Justin Fields is already the fucking permanent starter,” Jones said Friday on his show on BetOnline’s YouTube channel. “What are we talking about here? Only way [Wilson] will hit the field is if [Fields] gets hurt. Let’s can that conversation because that is not gonna happen. He’s playing pretty good right now.
“Yeah, he’s missing a throw here and there, but if you look at the route, it was a fucking over route. He made it like it was an under route, when he should have kept climbing. Those balls happen sometimes.”
It’s unclear what throw Jones is mentioning specifically, but it sounds like he’s not writing Fields off because of it. Some of you may remember Jones with the Cincinnati Bengals, especially his confrontation with Joey Porter during a playoff game in 2016. There’s no love lost between Jones and the Steelers, but it still seems like he wants Fields to succeed.
Jones isn’t exactly correct when he says Fields is already the starter. It’s very clear that Wilson could take the job back once he’s healthy. However, maybe Jones is right that the Steelers shouldn’t bench Fields. It’s not like he’s the reason for the offense’s struggles.
Fields didn’t have his best game in Week 5, but he didn’t receive much support either. His receivers had issues with drops, and the run game basically did not exist. The Cowboys had been awful at defending the run too, and yet, the Steelers couldn’t get anything going on the ground. Their defense had some severe lapses in coverage too. That loss was a team effort.
Inserting Wilson into the starting lineup isn’t going to magically fix those problems. He might make a few throws that Fields wouldn’t, but the Steelers would also be losing Fields’ rushing ability. There’s give and take with both options. The Steelers have bigger problems than at quarterback.
This isn’t the worst situation to be in though. At least they have two guys at quarterback whom they feel like they can win with. Compare that to last year, when they had no idea if any of their three quarterbacks could win them games. Whether it’s Fields or Wilson, the Steelers are better than offensively than they have been over the last few games. They just need to adjust faster and stop getting in their own way. We’ll see if they can do that this week against the Las Vegas Raiders.
