If QB Justin Fields has started his last game with the Steelers for a while, he is heading for the bench on a relatively low note. While he technically authored a fourth-quarter comeback, the Steelers still lost, 20-17. And 17 points isn’t going to be good enough most weeks, especially if your defense spots you three takeaways.
But while Fields has been consistently imperfect, former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger didn’t feel that way about his first deep shot in the Steelers’ Sunday loss to the Dallas Cowboys. In fact, he said on his Footbahlin podcast that he wanted to see more of it.
“I loved what they did early in the game with Justin [Fields]. I thought the shot he took to Connor Heyward was a perfect pass”, Roethlisberger said. “Connor dove for it. We always tell receivers, ‘Don’t dive’. It’s hard to tell guys [that], because you’re actually faster when you run through a ball. But it hit him. I mean, it hit the palms of his hands. I think he would tell you he should’ve had that one. But that’s a great throw”.
Was it, though, a “perfect” throw? Roethlisberger is, of course, entitled to some exaggeration, but a receiver doesn’t feel the compulsion to dive on a perfect throw. Heyward didn’t feel like he could get under this throw from Fields—and he couldn’t quite.
After the game, Justin Fields talked about that play, calling it “six inches from a big play”. He knows he could have taken a little mustard off that pass and relished the result. We’re possibly talking about a 67-yard touchdown, or at least a trip into the red zone. Technically, Heyward could have caught the ball, but it would have required more than an ordinary catch.
The offense has been six inches away from a lot of success so far this season, which is insufficient. It’s true that Justin Fields’ supporting cast hasn’t always helped him the way it should, but he is a part of the overall problem as well. He overthrew Darnell Washington downfield later on the same drive. “A little high, but again, it wasn’t awful. You’re allowed to miss a throw”, Roethlisberger said.
“I thought [Fields] was throwing the ball well on that drive. Why are we not going back to that more?”, Roethlisberger insisted. And historically, he has been a good deep-ball thrower, even with the Steelers. He has always made impressive throws, but the issue has been doing it consistently enough. That said, this offense is going to need to be more aggressive to have success. The way things are going, the Steelers can’t move the ball without doing so in chunks from time to time. Justin Fields just needs to bridge that six-inch gap more often, or the Steelers need to get him better playmakers.
The Steelers did attempt three more deep passes with Fields after that initial drive, but they all fell incomplete. On the season, he is 5-of-15 on deep passes for 175 yards, so going 0-of-5 makes that look a lot worse. His lone interception came on a short pass, but he has had a couple of deep throws that could (or should) have gone the other way.
