Steelers 4 Downs: Justin Fields' 6-game stint as starting QB compares favorably to predecessors

1. Playing the Fields

The Pittsburgh Steelers are expected to start Russell Wilson at quarterback Sunday against the New York Jets, relegating Justin Fields to a backup role. And while there are plenty of justifiable reasons for the move, Fields’ statistics through six starts measure up favorably against his predecessors over the past five years.

That, however, might say more about the mediocre-to-poor quarterback play the Steelers have gotten since 2019 than it does about any brilliance from Fields.

While there is no perfect objective method for measuring it, an analytics-based case could be made that Fields provided the Steelers some of their best QB play over a sustained period in years. Among any QB who started at least six games in a season for the Steelers since 2019, Fields’ ESPN-calculated QBR (intended to be an all-encompassing stat) of 54.0 is better than any of the Steelers starting quarterbacks in any of the past six seasons. That includes future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger, who posted QBRs of 52.3 and 41.3 as the Steelers’ primary quarterback in 2020 and 2021. (QBR is a 1-to-100 scale in which 50.0 is average).

In regards to old-school passer rating, Fields’ 93.9 is the second-best of any Steelers regular starter in the past six seasons — edged only by Roethlisberger’s 94.1 in 2020.

Pro Football Focus’ grading system also is intended to take into account all of a player’s performance. Fields’ grade of 71.4 ranks second to Kenny Pickett’s rookie season (75.5) among all Steelers QB seasons of at least six starts since 2019.

2. It takes (at least) two

Wilson getting the start would mean once again that the Steelers would not deploy one starting quarterback through every game in a full season. The most recent time the Steelers used the same starting quarterback for all of a season’s games was 2018, when Roethlisberger made 16 starts. Roethlisberger also pulled that off in 2014, 2013 and 2008.

Last season, only nine of the 32 NFL teams had the same starting quarterback for all 17 games. In 2022, that number was eight.

The Steelers will be the 10th team through the first seven weeks to make a change at quarterback this season, be it for reasons of health or performance.

3. Forcing the issue

T.J. Watt’s proficiency at forcing fumbles has come under examination after he had two such plays last week at the Las Vegas Raiders and three over the past two games. That gives Watt 30 career forced fumbles. Only three players in NFL history have had more over their first eight seasons. If Watt can record six more forced fumbles this season, he would match Dwight Freeney for the most over a player’s first eight seasons.

Since Watt entered the league in 2017, no other player has as many as 24 forced fumbles. Eleven-year veteran Khalil Mack, with 31, is the only active player with more forced fumbles than Watt.

4. Running better than expected

Najee Harris had a career day during last week’s Steelers win. Harris had the sixth-most rushing yards (106) he’s had in the NFL, and the 7.6 yards per carry was Harris’ best for a game as a pro. Harris also had two of the four longest rushes (36 and 26 yards) of his four-year career.

The advanced stats were equally as impressive. Per Next Gen Stats, Harris averaged 4.49 yards over expected over his 13 carries. That was the best of any NFL running back who had at least as many carries in Week 6, and on only three occasions this season did a back have a better RYOE in a game than Harris did against the Raiders.

Harris was the second-highest graded running back of the week by PFF, and it was the second-highest PFF graded game of Harris’ career.