The Pittsburgh Steelers earned themselves a hard-fought road victory over the Atlanta Falcons in their 2024 regular season debut. Though they scored no touchdowns, Pittsburgh came out of Atlanta with an 18-10 victory thanks to Chris Boswell and their heavy-hitting defense. Justin Fields, who was supposed to be the Steelers’ backup quarterback, had to start after Russell Wilson had a nagging calf injury flare-up.
Though he was not perfect, and of course led no touchdown drives, Fields got the job done. He should remain the Steelers starting quarterback for Week 2 and beyond.
Justin Fields Not Perfect, but Good Enough to Remain Steelers Starter
What Justin Fields Did Well
In the game against Atlanta, there were three areas in which Fields excelled. His first strength was throwing the ball down the field. Fields connected with George Pickens three times on deep balls with great accuracy. One of the completions was taken away by a questionable offensive pass interference call on Pickens, but it was still a big-time throw from Fields. Another time, Fields perfectly placed a deep pass to Pickens just before getting drilled by a pass rusher.
Great throw
Absurd camera angle pic.twitter.com/7iS6GgXJN8
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) September 9, 2024
Justin Fields threw the ball well down the field while avoiding turnovers, which was the most important part of his performance. Fields is known to have serious arm talent to go with his dynamic athleticism, but his decision-making and ball security have always been huge weaknesses. He made a couple of questionable decisions against Atlanta, but overall, he made the right play and took care of the ball. If he can keep doing those two things, there is simply no reason for Fields to revert to a backup role.
Finally, Fields did a good job of using his legs against the Falcons. He ran 14 times for 57 yards including several first down conversions. Fields add a nice wrinkle to Arthur Smith’s offense with his rushing ability, which is something Wilson offers very little of at this stage in his career.
Biggest Areas for Improvement
Though his performance was solid overall, Justin Fields was far from perfect in Atlanta. One concern was his accuracy in the short passing game. Other than Pickens, Pittsburgh doesn’t have a deep receiving target. Their passing offense will feature mostly short-to-intermediate routes. Despite hitting several explosive deep balls, Fields struggled making several simple passes. He made enough explosive plays to overcome his misses, but Fields won’t get away with that against the league’s better defenses. But if (when) he’s not hitting the deep ball as consistently, Fields can overcome that by being much more efficient on shorter throws.
Finally, and by far most importantly, Fields will need to clean up the general sloppiness showcased by the Steelers’ offense in the game. Early on, there were multiple botched center-quarterback snap exchanges. The broadcast only showed a replay of one bad exchange, and Fields was clearly at fault in that instance. Further, there were far too many plays where Pittsburgh seemed to not be on the same page, both pre-snap and after the ball was snapped. It looked like a preseason game at times.
Justin Fields has a higher ceiling than Russell Wilson. He should remain the Steelers starting quarterback. But some of the disorganization and general messiness of the offense wouldn’t have happened with Wilson under center. Fields will need to clean those little things up to run away with the starting job.
Main Photo: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
The post Justin Fields Not Perfect, but Good Enough to Remain Steelers Starter appeared first on Last Word on Pro Football.