Justin Fields played well in his first preseason game with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it’s hard to say his appearance will change the Steelers’ quarterback depth.
Fields started with Russell Wilson out with an injury, but some of his good plays were overshadowed by mistakes. He fumbled twice during the snap. Fields was sacked twice on third down. He played one quarter, but the Steelers didn’t score.
Fields wasn’t bad, but he’ll need to have a big preseason performance to put pressure on the Steelers to be the starter in Week 1, and Friday night’s game against the Houston Texans was anything but stellar.
Wilson signed with the Steelers, which then set the tone for Fields to join the Steelers. Kenny Pickett reportedly did not take Wilson’s contract well, and Pittsburgh traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles. This left a deep hole in the depth chart, and the Chicago Bears put Fields up for sale as Caleb Williams was due to join them in the NFL Draft. The Bears traded Fields to Pittsburgh in exchange for a conditional sixth-round draft pick, but Wilson has been the declared starter since the deal.
Things may have changed a bit since training camp began — Wilson missed the first practice with a calf injury that kept him out of Friday night’s game — but if there is such thing as a true quarterback competition, Fields has his first chance to make an impression in the preseason.
Fields quickly showed off his athleticism. On the first offensive play, he was pressured after a play-action fake by defensive end Danielle Hunter. Fields stopped and made a side-arm throw to Najee Harris, who caught it and ran in for a 16-yard gain. It should have been a sack, but Fields made something happen.
The first drive was stalled due in large part to a center quarterback exchange between Fields and Nate Herbig on a first-down snap that resulted in a four-yard loss, but Fields completed all three passes on the drive for 37 yards.
The Steelers again had a center quarterback snap fumble at the start of their second drive, and again recovered the fumble. No one wanted to see Fields’ preseason debut with the Steelers cut short by an unforced error. The second drive ended on third down when first-round draft pick Troy Fautanu was beaten by Hunter at right tackle and Fields was sacked. On the third drive, the team’s second-round pick Zach Frazier replaced Herbig under center.
As Fields was watching after the second drive, Texans quarterback CJ Stroud made a great pass to Tank Dell, who made a slick move into the end zone for a touchdown and reminded everyone why he’s already one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
That’s the kind of offense the Steelers want. Fields had some strong moments — a good pass to Van Jefferson gained 20 yards on Pittsburgh’s third drive — but the fumbles and sacks were concerns. Fields was sacked twice on third downs, which isn’t a good sign considering one of the criticisms of his play is that he holds the ball in the pocket too long and gets sacked too many times. Both led to punts.
Fields’ final performance was good — he completed 5 of 6 passes for 67 yards — and the incompletion appeared to be a poor call on the field — Jefferson appeared to have both feet in the field, but Pittsburgh didn’t contest the call — but it wasn’t great that all three drives were stymied by inaccuracies and there were no scoring drives.
Fields will have other opportunities this preseason, and Pittsburgh doesn’t seem to be taking the possibility of him starting in the season opener instead of Wilson seriously, so Fields will have to play better if he wants to have a shot at it.
