With Russell Wilson’s return to the preseason lineup, the quarterback competition between him and Justin Fields was supposed to heat up. But the offense as a whole was ice cold last night against the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers converted just four of their 13 attempts on third down and zero of their three attempts on fourth. This left the offense out of rhythm and makes the quarterback evaluation difficult to take away anything meaningful from.
If there was any spark on offense, it was Fields and his improvisational ability while either running the ball or escaping pressure with his legs to keep plays alive. The two biggest plays of the game were both with Fields at quarterback. One was a 20-yard scramble and the other was Fields escaping what looked like a certain sack before finding Dez Fitzpatrick along the sideline to extend the drive.
Louis Riddick was asked on ESPN’s SportsCenter after the game which quarterback he would give the edge to in the competition.
“I’m biased right now. I’m going with Justin Fields simply because of the fact that one, he’s been the player that’s been healthy and that’s been available. Two, I think he has taken full advantage of those reps and those opportunities to go ahead and show Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith that he has that dual-threat capability that can really take this offense to another level as he continues to get more comfortable with it,” Riddick said. “I think it’s Justin’s ad-lib ability and his maturation as a thrower that I would opt for. And I think at some point in time, if it’s not in the beginning of the season, Pittsburgh’s gonna opt for it too.”
Each quarterback got five drives against the Bills. Wilson completed eight of his 10 passes for 47 yards. He was also sacked three times for 21 yards. Fields completed 11 of his 17 attempts for 92 yards and took one sack for five yards while also leading the team in rushing with 42 yards on eight attempts.
Fields’ improvisational skills were on full display on the third-down pass to Dez Fitzpatrick
That escapability is a trait that Russell Wilson has always been known for, but Fields is obviously more capable of doing things like that at this stage of his career. Both players take a lot of sacks and hold onto the ball longer than any other quarterbacks in the league. The issue is, it looks like whichever quarterback is back there will be on the run and under pressure a lot. Over the first two preseason games, Fields and Wilson have each been sacked three times.
The offensive line has much higher potential than last year’s iteration, but it is also much younger and appears to be experiencing some pretty significant growing pains. If the quarterbacks have to deal with that this season, Fields probably has a better chance at being successful.
Looking at each of their performances in a vacuum, I don’t think this game did much to move the needle in either direction for the quarterback competition. But when you start to consider the factors outside their control—like the offensive line—Fields might end up making more sense.