Steelers film room: What Russell Wilson could unlock in Arthur Smith's offense

Christopher Carter / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As Mike Tomlin remains (publicly) uncommitted to a starting quarterback for the Steelers’ Sunday night matchup with the Jets, the obvious question of choosing Russell Wilson or Justin Fields may not have an obvious answer to some.

Fields has opened the season as the Steelers’ quarterback and contributed to a 4-2 start. His 231 rushing yards is fifth-most among NFL quarterbacks, while his five rushing touchdowns leads all NFL passers.

While Fields has been a dynamic rushing threat, he’s been average to below average as a passer. His 1,106 passing yards ranks 22nd in the NFL, while his five passing touchdowns ranks 16th. His 54.0 QBR ranks 20th among NFL quarterbacks, while his 93.9 passer rating ranks 15th. Those are solid but not overly impressive numbers.

“Justin has been really good,” Mike Tomlin said in his Tuesday press conference at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “We've been really good at times, but not to be confused with great. This is a competitive league, man. We're trying to position ourselves to be that team, and we got a player with talent who hadn't had an opportunity to play, so we're going to potentially explore those things.”

Fields has done a good job of not throwing interceptions, but where Tomlin alludes to not being “confused with great” has been Fields’ missed opportunities in the passing game.

If the Steelers do ultimately decide to go with Wilson as their starting quarterback, it will be because they believe he can thrive where Fields has struggled in the Steelers’ offense — seeing the field and distributing the football in an effective passing attack.

Several plays from the Steelers’ 32-13 win over the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday illustrate where better reading of the defense — a skill Wilson has shown throughout his career — could make a huge difference in the Steelers’ offense.

Reads and check-downs

The Steelers’ output Sunday was just the fourth time the team scored 30 or more points in a game since Ben Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021-2022 season.

Fields played his part in that success with 11 carries for 59 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. But his passing numbers left much to be desired, completing just 14 passes on 24 attempts for 145 passing yards and zero touchdowns.

The lack of production in the Steelers’ passing game was not because of a lack of opportunity in offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s play-calling. Several times, Fields would not adjust his vision to target the more open areas to counter what the Raiders’ defense was doing — even on plays where he made solid throws for positive gains.

One such play came in the opening drive, when Fields had both tight ends — Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington — on quick curl routes about 5 yards downfield. But the Raiders were in a Cover 2 zone defense that rolled both their inside linebackers toward Freiermuth’s side of the formation.

While the pass to Freiermuth went for 8 yards and set up a 3rd-and-1, Washington was left practically uncovered and was an option that could’ve yielded more.

That situation might not seem detrimental, as the play ultimately had a decent result. But as the game wore on, Fields’ issues with reading the soft spots of the Raiders’ defense became more obvious.

During the second quarter, the Steelers called a play action pass where Connor Heyward caught the ball in the flat and gained 4 yards. But had Fields read the Cover 2 zone defense, he would’ve seen Calvin Austin III’s corner route 20 yards further down the same sideline with 10 yards of space.

It was solid gain but a missed chunk play opportunity on what could’ve been a routine play for Fields.

‘Routine plays routinely’

The Steelers have given Fields plenty of chances to capitalize on play action passes — but not much has been achieved with those chances.

Pro Football Focus charts Fields’ 61 drop-backs on play action to be the fifth-most among NFL quarterbacks, but his 5.2 yards per attempt on those passes ranks 33rd among quarterbacks who’ve had at least 10 drop-backs on play action.

That’s largely because of Fields’ decisions to throw check-downs off play action. Pro Football Focus charts Fields with targeting players at an average of 4.9 yards downfield on play action passes — which ranks 32nd among that same group of quarterbacks..

The traditional goal of play action is to draw linebackers and safeties closer to the line of scrimmage to open up more space for bigger throws downfield. Fields has hit on a few of those plays, but none have resulted in touchdowns.

Even on non-play action passes, Fields’ vision of the field misses opportunities for big plays downfield because of his tendency to throw check-down passes. During the first quarter, the Steelers were set back to 2nd-and-20 and needed to gain yards to force a manageable third down. The Raiders disguised their Cover 2 zone with a pre-snap look of a single-high safety.

On the play, Freiermuth ran a quick hitch that gained 8 yards to create a 3rd-and-12. However, had Fields noticed the Raiders’ switch into Cover 2 zone, he would’ve seen both George Pickens to his left and Washington to his right running seam routes to open areas of the field that would’ve allowed for big gains.

And with Pickens’ potential as a playmaker, he might’ve scored a touchdown if the ball is thrown on time and in stride.

Fields’ tendency to throw check-downs might be part of the Steelers’ game plan to protect the football from interceptions at all cost. But it’s hard to imagine Smith routinely calling plays where targets are open downfield, while he and Tomlin are coaching Fields to not target those open players.

This isn’t unique to Fields’ play in against the Raiders, as similar plays were covered in the Post-Gazette’s film study of Fields’ performance in the 20-17 loss to the Cowboys on Oct. 6.

If the Steelers were to switch to Wilson as a quarterback, it would be to get better production in these areas. Pro Football Focus charted Wilson as averaging 7.3 yards per target in 2023 with the Broncos, while his targets had an average depth of being 10.6 yards downfield. They also chart Wilson with 11 touchdown passes and just one interception off play action last season.

One of Tomlin’s commonly used phrases is for players to “make routine plays, routinely.” The plays Fields isn’t seeing within Smith’s offense qualify as routine plays that veteran quarterbacks can — and should — make in a standard passing offense.

Another example of Fields’ missing of routine opportunities came on 2nd-and-10 early in the second quarter.

The Steelers came out in 11 personnel — one tight end, one running back, and three receivers — against a Cover 3 zone defense. Smith’s play called for both Pickens and Van Jefferson to run down the seams of the zone, forcing the deep middle safety to choose which player he’d cover.

On the play, the safety clearly moved toward Pickens to the right side of the formation. That left Jefferson with more than 15 yards of space between him and the middle safety on his deep in-breaking seam route.

But Fields doesn’t pull the trigger and opts for Freiermuth’s out route — on which he misfired, as the pass went over the head of the 6-foot-5, fourth-year tight end.

Those are plays that Wilson would be expected to make. If the 14th-year veteran can prove to Tomlin during practice this week he’s ready to make consistent reads and downfield throws in the Steelers’ offense, it could be the edge that gives him the job over Fields.

Fields’ X-Factor

Make no mistake, Fields is still a serious weapon defenses have to game plan for each week. 

As Tomlin said Tuesday, Fields’ ability as a runner makes him an “X-factor,” which is something he admitted Wilson doesn’t have in his skill set.

That’s an asset the Steelers have used to gain 17 first downs on the ground — fourth-most of NFL quarterbacks. It’s also an easier decision for Fields to make when seeing if defenses plan to honor his ability as a runner or give him space to scramble.

Take the 2nd-and-13 play from the Steelers’ own 35, when the offense came out in an empty set to spread the Raiders’ defense. Upon the snap of the ball, the only two off-ball defenders who were close to the line of scrimmage backed off the middle part of the field and left a huge rushing lane for Fields.

The fourth-year quarterback — most likely on a designed draw — quickly attacked the gap and found 18 yards for a first down.

But Fields’ ability as a runner doubles with his arm talent to throw strong passes on tight ropes. He’s not always accurate, but he does give his receivers a chance to make a play at a decent rate when he decides to throw further downfield.

Sports Information Systems charts Fields as throwing the ball on target 63.6% of the time to a player beyond the first down marker this season. That’s just 18th-best among quarterbacks, but it’s also ahead of big-name passers like C.J. Stroud, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love, and — his Bears replacement — Caleb Williams.

When Fields’ athletic running ability combines with his arm talent, he makes remarkable plays. One example was his 20-yard completion to Austin on 2nd-and-16 in the second quarter. Fields faced pressure up the middle and had to quickly abandon the pocket by running to his left.

But as he escaped, Fields kept his eyes downfield and found Austin in a tight passing window with an impressive throw that got the Steelers a first down.

Plays like that aren’t normal elusive efforts from quarterbacks, and Fields is due credit for his abilitty to create winning plays in such moments. However, those plays aren’t a regular component of the Steelers’ offense and have come sparingly over their first six contests.

The decision for Tomlin on which quarterback to choose will come down to whether Wilson can make the routine reads and passing plays consistently to better use the Steelers’ playmakers. If he can, that will be a threat the offense hasn’t consistently had since Roethlisberger played before his 2019 season-ending surgery.

But if Wilson cannot show that kind of consistent leadership at quarterback, both with his decisions and accurate throws, Fields’ X-factor will be the component that Tomlin will lean on between the two quarterbacks.