With Russell Wilson’s return from a calf injury, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback competition between him and Justin Fields was expected to heat up. Instead, the offense in Saturday’s preseason game went cold, regardless of who was under center.
The QBs each played significant time in the 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills, but even as the battle for the starting role rolls on toward an inevitable decision, neither was able to separate himself with an impressive performance.
“You know, still not what we’re looking for,” head coach Mike Tomlin said after the game. “It was better in some areas but still JV in too many others.”
Wilson was the starter in his preseason debut as a Steeler, but faced a rough welcome in his five drives played.
The offense only got one first down over the first four possessions, consistently running into third-and-long situations which it failed to convert. The best drive of his outing was his last, converting a third down with an 11-yard pass to Van Jefferson and then almost connecting with George Pickens on a deep throw, though the wide receiver couldn’t get both feet in bounds. Unfortunately that drive ended in a missed field goal, and Wilson’s night was done after accumulating 47 yards on 8-for-10 passing, also taking three costly sacks.
“When you’re not winning possession downs in the early portions of the game, all of those things really get stymied,” Tomlin said. “Included in that but separate from it, I thought we didn’t do a good enough job at protecting the quarterback. We’ve got to do a better job in pass protection than we did — not only in possession downs but just in general.
“I was really up-front with the group about it in that regard, that can’t be a problem for us. We’ve got to be better than we were tonight in that area.”
The inability to get anything going while the starters were in was so glaring that Tomlin said it actually made it more difficult to evaluate the quarterback’s first game performance accurately.
“It’s somewhat of an incomplete study because you just don’t get a chance to see them operate or us operate or us establish rhythm and personality when you’re not winning possession downs,” he said. “And we weren’t. The first three or so series of the game, it was three and out, and you’re not going to get an opportunity to establish rhythm or play the way you’d like as an individual or a collective.”
Fields entered the game in the second quarter, hoping to put his fumbles from last week in the rearview mirror and jumpstart the offense. While he did hold onto the ball better against the Bills, he was similarly unable to find a rhythm, with his best play coming using his legs on a 20-yard scramble en route to a field goal. That stood as the only score on the afternoon, however, as all three of the Steelers’ second-half drives ended with failed fourth-down conversions, two in the red zone. He finished 11-for-17 for 92 yards.
The struggles by both players and the offense as a whole didn’t afford Tomlin much additional clarity in determining whose play should earn them the starting job for Week 1. In addition, it raises concerns about the offense as a whole, considering the three total points over two games and none scored by the starters.
Pittsburgh will have one more preseason game against Detroit, with the clock ticking for Tomlin to name a starter and for the offense to get in regular-season form, regardless of who ends up under center.
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