A quarterback from Georgia, who rose to national stardom in college in Ohio, is starting to play like a high-caliber quarterback in Pennsylvania.
Of course it’s Justin Fields, the Steelers surprise Week 1 starter who’s been nothing but uber-efficient as the Steelers have scratched and clawed their way to a 3-0 start. Yet Pittsburgh isn’t winning solely by clamping down defensively and controlling the clock.
Fields has begun to play with the confidence he demonstrated when he emerged as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback recruit in the nation out of Kennesaw, Georgia and the productive passer after transferring to Ohio State. It’s easy to forget just how productive he was with the Buckeyes — in his two seasons there, one of which was cut short due to COVID-19, Fields tossed 63 touchdowns to a mere nine interceptions and averaged over 9.2 yards per attempt.
After a tumultuous beginning to his NFL career in Chicago, when he could never seem to string multiple high-caliber starts together, took too many sacks, flashed as a runner, and couldn’t clearly see the whole field fast enough, Fields has settled in with the Steelers. The trust in himself is on its way back.
Through three games, Fields is 55 of 75 (73.3%) for 518 yards — 6.9 yards per attempt — with two passing touchdowns and one pick, the latter came in Week 3 on a crazy tip-drill. As a runner, he’s accumulated 90 yards on 24 carries with a ground-game score.
Against the Chargers, Fields threw over 30 times in a regular season game for just the 10th time, and it was the second-most efficient of those specific, high-volume outings, as he completed 78.1% of this 32 passes at 7.7 yards per attempt with one touchdown and that one interception.
Fields isn’t a totally new quarterback, but the transformation is progressing at a promising pace.
Watch here, against the Chargers in Week 3, how Fields is given a full-field read, and he starts by looking to the two-man concept to his right. Nothing there. Then, old habits arise. He begins to morph into scramble mode, while scanning back to the left side of the field.
But as he drifts to his left against the subtle sign of interior pressure, Fields keeps his eyes up and finds George Pickens down the left sideline. Accurate, on-time throw.
Many times during his Bears tenure that exact scenario ended with either a Fields run up the middle or to the left. On a few occasions, he spotted the open wideout down the boundary but typically made the throw too late. Not here though. Development in plain sight.
Here’s another example of how Fields is starting to understand the mental aspect of playing the quarterback position, and how nailing the intricacies are often the difference between an incompletion and a large gain.
The Chargers roll late into a single-high safety look. Fields wants Pickens (in the slot near the bottom of your screen) on an in-breaking route in front of that deep middle safety.
Another one of his bad habits in Chicago was staring down the first read. That’s fine when a quarterback has a cannon and is playing in the Big 10 — especially with first-round receivers. Not in the NFL, I don’t care what defense a quarterback is facing. He does the opposite here, peering directly at said safety in between the hash marks to begin his drop back. The moment Pickens gets behind sinking underneath safety Derwin James, Fields flips his eyes that way, aligns the rest of his body, and fires a fastball into the chest of the veteran receiver.
Gorgeous. That’s precisely how a quarterback should behave against that coverage while looking for that route over the middle. Eyes down the middle at the outset of the play keeps the defense on its heels, unsure of where the quarterback will ultimately throw the football, particularly with all the routes run vertically outside of the seams at the start.
This last illustration of his Fields’ growth isn’t quite as dazzling, but it serves as a demonstration of the increasing speed of Fields’ processing. And it came against a sneaky coverage — that leads to plenty of interceptions — run by the Chargers. At the top of your screen, you’ll notice No. 32, safety Alohi Gilman buzzing down to the middle of the field as a “robber” to patrol against any middle-of-the-field throws at the intermediate level.
But Fields is so quick to react to an open, in-breaking Calvin Austin and throws with such velocity and perfect placement, the ball beats Gilman to the spot, and Austin and his 4.32 speed are gone.
That was the dagger touchdown in the fourth quarter to give the Steelers a two-possession lead.
And that throw segues to another overarching element of Fields’ advancing play. He’s seeing open receivers on a variety of zone-beaters underneath and is immediately pulling the trigger. The hesitation that often limited his passing productivity in Chicago is dissipating before our eyes.
Those 5-7 yard completions aren’t tremendous displays of elite-level quarterbacking. For Fields, they’re vital. They’re keeping the Steelers (mostly) “ahead” of the sticks on each possession and are key to Pittsburgh converting third downs at a 43.1% clip through three games, the sixth-highest figure in football, despite lacking run-game effectiveness in this 3-0 start.
(Pittsburgh’s currently 24th in EPA per rush before “Monday Night Football” in Week 3)
Fields is learning how to play “point guard,” and when you have supreme athletic gifts and a strong arm, you can produce the way the Steelers starter has through three games.
Couple that quarterback blend with Pittsburgh’s always-stingy defense — which currently ranks first in EPA per play allowed — and Pittsburgh’s 3-0 record makes perfect sense.
The last three or four years, the Steelers have ridden the mystical Tomlin Magic to above .500 records. The early returns on Fields’ maturation process hint that this franchise with a storied defensive and stable head-coaching history just might be able to lean on its quarterback once again.
