It says a lot about a person the way they handle difficult situations. For Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields, the way he handled an expected move back to the understudy role in the Steel City Thursday during his media session was rather telling.
In a good way.
Fields stood there and accepted responsibility for the fact that he hasn’t played well enough to hold onto the starting job, should that be the decision that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin makes in Week 7 on Sunday Night Football against the New York Jets.
That message that Fields put out there and the way he held himself accountable to the media was praised quite a bit by former NFL players. Former Patriots and Jets offensive lineman and current ESPN analyst Damien Woody said Fields “gets it” after hearing his comments.
Chris Long was the latest to comment on Fields’ remarks. On Friday morning on the latest episode of his “Green Light Podcast” Long lauded Fields’ reaction to what has to be a disappointing development for the fourth-year veteran.
“Shoutout to Justin Fields. Shoutout to Justin Fields for being a pro and taking it on the chin and saying, ‘Hey, the fact that I’m not playing this weekend and or maybe not playing, it’s my fault. I didn’t play well enough’…speaking the truth. And I love the kid for that. Yep, I do,” Long said, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “I think it also speaks to something, that I don’t think he would’ve said that last year in Chicago. I don’t wanna pigeonhole him, but I think sometimes you’re in a situation where you can trust, at least you trust the people.
“Take it on the chin and move on. And I think in this situation, Justin Fields is saying, ‘Hey, if I don’t play this weekend, maybe there’ll be another opportunity. But whatever this situation is, I had a hand in creating it.'”
It might be difficult for Fields to go from starting the first six games of the season and leading the Steelers to a 4-2 record, playing relatively well in the process, to backing up Russell Wilson now that the veteran is healthy.
That doesn’t seem fair on the surface, but sometimes life isn’t fair.
Fields, to his credit, took some attention off the situation by stating to the media he didn’t play well enough to hold onto the job, because if he had played well enough to be the starter, he’d have held onto the job. It’s as simple as that.
It doesn’t mean the Steelers are done with Fields now and long-term, either.
As Long pointed out, this seems like a situation where Fields trusts where he is, trusts the coaching staff in Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, and trusts that they have his best interests in mind and have good intentions with this move. Maybe if that happens in Chicago in years past, Fields doesn’t take that responsibility.
But he did in Pittsburgh, and teammates have his back, too.
That’s rather telling. It’s not a surprise guys love playing with him and being his teammate. When he does something like he did Thursday with the media, that only endears him further to them.
Fields might not be the starter right now, but that moment with the media, that brief flash in time, made him even more of a leader for the Black and Gold moving forward.
