The Steelers Gave Justin Fields the Perfect Game Plan

The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a major problem at the quarterback position over the last few seasons.

To try and gain more stability, the Steelers picked up both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields this offseason. Wilson was named the starter shortly before the season began, but due to a lingering calf injury, he was forced to miss Pittsburgh’s Week 1 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons.

As a result, Fields got the start, and he did surprisingly well. We’ve known about his physical talent and athleticism, but during his time with the Chicago Bears, Fields hadn’t been able to sustain any consistent success. Yet, the Steelers managed to put him in an excellent position to lead the team to a season-opening win, and Fields did just that.

How did Pittsburgh’s offense navigate their way to a victory?

What Did His Performance Look Like on Paper?

Fields didn’t light up the box score, but managed to limit mistakes and stay efficient.

On paper, it didn’t seem like Fields was slinging the ball all over the field. Still, his stat line does show that he was efficient with his passes, and limited the amount of mistakes he made.

Now, his stat line doesn’t show the number of botched exchanges between Fields and his center, Zach Frazier. Both were Week 1 starters after coming into camp expected to be backups, so it makes sense that there could have been some rust to shake off. Still, these mishaps have to be avoided in the future, and while none of them resulted in turnovers, they’re dangerous nonetheless.

With that said, Fields put together a solid outing. He played the game-manager role well, and limited any costly mistakes made. Here’s how the Steelers put him in position to do that.

What Did the Steelers’ Game Plan Look Like?

Pittsburgh preferred to make things simple for Fields, and focus on quick, outside breaking throws.

Most of Fields’ struggles in Chicago came from his inconsistencies while throwing the ball over the middle of the field. He’s thrown 30 interceptions over the course of his career, and many of them have come in between the numbers.

Fields routinely loses track of defenders over the middle, and it’s just not an area he prefers to target.

This presented a tough matchup against the Falcons, who had some very good defenders in that area of the field. Atlanta’s duo of Justin Simmons and Jessie Bates III is one of the best safety combinations in the entire league.

With that in mind, Pittsburgh aimed to keep Fields from throwing to that part of the field entirely. Fields has always preferred to keep the ball outside the numbers, but that was taken to some extreme lengths in Pittsburgh’s Week 1 game plan. Fortunately for Fields and the Steelers, it worked pretty well.

This is Fields’ pass chart from Week 1.

The Steelers boast one of the better defensive units in the league, with playmakers at all levels. With Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren in the backfield on offense, they’ve got a solid rushing attack as well. So, with the additions of both Wilson and Fields this offseason, it seemed very clear that they’d prefer each of these guys to operate in more of a game-manager role than they have in the past.

That was easy to see on Sunday. Fields used his legs as was expected, but when throwing the ball, Pittsburgh made it very easy on him. His diet consisted of quick, easy routes and reads, and several designed rollouts aimed at having him focus on a specific area of the field, rather than surveying the whole field, which could have allowed Simmons and Bates to make more of an impact.

Their plan worked. Although Pittsburgh never found the end zone, they avoided turnovers, kicked field goals, and let their defense carry them to a win.

It seems Fields will be getting another start in Week 2, against the Denver Broncos.

Pittsburgh will likely take a similar approach with Fields again this Sunday. While it’s not a 100% certainty that Fields will start, it certainly sounds like Mike Tomlin’s intention as of now:

If Fields does well, he could end up taking over the starting role completely.

All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.