Justin Fields continues as 1st team, big on big at camp

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – After hardly anytime with the first team in team drills in the first 10 practices of training camp, Mike Tomlin said ‘see you next week’ when asked if we will see more of Russell Wilson with the first preseason game on Friday.

Fields work

Justin Fields again leading the first team deflecting a question if he’s gaining on Wilson who began camp in the ‘pole position’ to be the starting quarterback. He said he will let the coaches decide that but continues to work.

“I’m just trying to take advantage of each and every rep that I get,” Fields said. “I know that if he wasn’t hurt I wouldn’t be in this position. I’m trying to take full advantage of it, get better every day and build that chemistry.”

You can see something developing between he and George Pickens. Over the last several days there have been a number of big plays between the two with Fields saying he trusts that a 50-50 ball with Pickens isn’t 50-50, he expects Pickens to make catches.

The two actually go back to playing on the same team in Cam Newton seven-on-seven tournaments. Pickens came over from Alabama to play on the same Georgia team as Fields.

“He literally moves the exact same as high school,” Fields said. “It’s pretty easy to read him in and out of his breaks. We’ve known each other for a long time, it didn’t take that long for that connection to build back up.”

In his four years as an NFL player, Fields said he hasn’t been through a tougher stretch of training camp as the six straight days the Steelers just went through in Latrobe.

He said he doesn’t know how many NFL teams are full-on tackling in camp. He guessed it would be under three. He said the daily ‘7-shots’(begins with the first team offense against first team defense from the 2-yard line) is unique to the Steelers. He said the intensity, tempo and competitiveness is where you want it to be.

Fields also admitted that even if he doesn’t start, his style gives the defense an opportunity to practice against a quarterback that moves like Lamar Jackson or other mobile QBs.

“The biggest thing is they want me to come out and compete, come out and be a leader for the offense,” Fields said of his approach. “Helping your teammates thrive instead of survive.”

Line vs. line

There was a lot of big-on-big on Sunday at St. Vincent College. As Tomlin put it, they weren’t trying to trick anyone with situational and goal line drills.

“We want to see who can come off the ball, play with good pad level, defeat blocks, maintain blocks,” Tomlin said. “Just a really good day in terms of getting to know one another. We’re tackling on days like today, so we’re not speculating.”

Tomlin singled out a few players for their performances, saying they represented themselves well-veteran Larry Ogunjobi , second-year defensive lineman Keeanu Benton , Isaiahh Loudermilk -who is facing a pivotal camp and rookie Logan Lee .

He said they got through it relatively clean from an injury perspective. Next are three more practices in Latrobe and then a game in Pittsburgh.

“We’ve got us an off day coming up, and so it’s going to be a really big opportunity to get right in a short period of time,” Tomlin said. “We’re stepping into a stadium next week, so all this work is important, but obviously some of it is weighted more than others. So, it would behoove guys to get into that stadium on Friday night.”