Are Critics Being Unfair In Blaming QB Justin Fields?

Saturday night’s loss against the Buffalo Bills wasn’t the best performance of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields’ career by any means. But it certainly wasn’t the worst, either.

Pittsburgh lost 9-3, an embarrassing output given that Russell Wilson and Fields were the only two Steelers quarterbacks to take the field, squaring off against Buffalo’s depth for much of the festivities.

Subsequently, social media did its thing and ran rampant with criticism for Pittsburgh’s passers . After the team mustered just 139 yards through the air, pushback was inevitable.

That doesn’t mean all of it was fair.

Late in the third quarter, Fields decided to keep the ball on a read option on fourth-and-two. Ultimately he was unsuccessful, turning the ball over on downs after being stopped for a loss.

However, his process here wasn’t catastrophic – it was correct.

Fields is reading the edge rusher, No. 96, and if he crashes on the running back, the read is to keep it. Buffalo, meanwhile, is expecting the read option and prepares for it with a scrape exchange. This allows the linebacker to come down on the quarterback, rather than filling his typical gap, and trap Fields.

Simply put, that’s good play-calling on Buffalo’s part.

Another viral clip was Fields’ overthrow on an open deep ball. A completion could’ve been the game-winning score and a reason for the narrative to change around this quarterback competition.

Instead, as seen in the last replay in the above clip, Fields’ receiver slows down just enough to make the ball uncatchable.

Maybe tracking the ball a little better would’ve made the difference. It’s possible it would have fallen incomplete anyway or that Fields still missed him by a few inches.

But the optics of a well-thrown ball looking like an inexcusable miss is what will live on in the online discourse.

Related: Too Much JV!' Steelers Mike Tomlin Rips Offense

None of this is to say that Fields needs to start, that he was particularly good against the Bills, or that he could do no wrong. There wouldn’t be much of a competition at play if that was the case. But it’s far too easy to run with narratives, especially when the results and immediate eye test back it up. Don’t be afraid to take a second look to confirm that what your timeline is telling you is actually true.