Justin Fields had some nice plays in his first preseason action for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it’s hard to say his outing will cause the Steelers to change their depth chart at quarterback.
Fields got the chance to start with Russell Wilson nursing an injury, and some of his better plays were overshadowed by mistakes. There were two fumbles on snaps. Fields took two sacks on third down. He played a quarter and the Steelers didn’t score. Fields didn’t look bad, but he probably needs a big preseason to put pressure on the Steelers to consider him to start Week 1, and Friday night’s game against the Houston Texans fell far short of greatness.
Wilson signed with the Steelers, and then the wheels started turning in motion that led to Fields becoming a Steeler as well. Kenny Pickett reportedly didn’t take the Wilson signing well, which led to Pittsburgh trading him to the Philadelphia Eagles. That opened up a spot on the depth chart, and the Chicago Bears were shopping Fields with Caleb Williams about to come aboard in the NFL Draft. The Bears traded Fields to Pittsburgh for a conditional sixth-round pick, but Wilson has been the declared starter since he signed.
Perhaps that has changed a bit since the start of camp. Wilson suffered a calf injury that kept him out of the first practices, and the injury was the reason he didn’t play Friday night. If there really is any semblance of a true quarterback competition, Fields had the first preseason opportunity to make an impression.
Fields showed off his athleticism right away. On the first offensive play, he was pressured after a play-action fake by Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter. Fields stopped and delivered a sidearm throw to Najee Harris, who caught it and took off for a 16-yard gain. It should have been a sack but Fields made something happen.
The first drive stalled, mainly because a center-quarterback exchange between Fields and Nate Herbig on a first-down snap led to a 4-yard loss. But Fields completed all three of his attempts for 37 yards on the drive.
The Steelers had another center-quarterback snap fumble to start the second drive, and they recovered again. Nobody wanted to see Fields’ preseason debut with the Steelers get interrupted by those unforced errors. That second drive went three-and-out when rookie first-round pick Troy Fautanu was beat at right tackle by Hunter, who sacked Fields. Zach Frazier, the team’s second-round pick, replaced Herbig at center for the third drive.
While Fields was watching after the second drive, Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud reminded everyone why he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL already, with a nice pass to Tank Dell. Dell used some nifty moves to get into the end zone for a touchdown.
The Steelers wish for offense like that. Fields did have some strong moments. A good pass to Van Jefferson picked up 20 yards on Pittsburgh’s third drive. But the fumbles were a concern and so were sacks. Fields took two sacks on third downs and that wasn’t a good sign, considering one of the criticisms of his game is that he holds the ball too long in the pocket and takes too many sacks. Both led to Steelers punts.
Fields’ final stat line was good. He went 5 of 6 for 67 yards. His incompletion looked like a bad call on the field; Jefferson seemed to get both feet down in bounds but Pittsburgh didn’t challenge the call. But the lack of a scoring drive, with the three drives all stalling due to mistakes, doesn’t look great.
Fields will have other chances this preseason. It hasn’t seemed like Pittsburgh is taking the possibility of Fields starting the opener over Wilson too seriously, and Fields has to play much better if he wants to force the issue.
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