Steelers-Falcons reaction: No need to rush Russell Wilson after Justin Fields' solid day?

hello everybody it is Monday on the Northshore Drive podcast my name is Adam bner I am in for Christopher Carter who is on Sudden assignment here at the post cazette breaking news on the pit beat so make sure you're uh tuned for that but I'm here with Ray falo reacting to the Steelers 18-10 Victory against uh the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday um Ray let's let's just get straight into it um we'll talk about the quarterback specifically we'll start with with Justin fields and what you thought of his performance I think it was kind of a beauty in the eye of the beholder situation yesterday where you could look at you know the lack of explosive plays the lack of really looking downfield really at all in the first half um not finishing drives and say well this isn't that much different than last year all the money spent all the different people brought in and you still only finish with 18 points um but I you know I think there's also some good things to look at of you did you did have six scoring drives um you did avoid for the most part a ton of three outs you only punted three times in the game um I think that it was a higher Baseline than we experienced last season when um you know you'd see a ton of three and outs and and at times things felt completely hopeless and and as I was saying on our Steelers postgame live stream with with Paul Ze yesterday things never felt completely hopeless to me the way they did at points last season yesterday um what was your read on on what we saw from Justin fields in this offense yeah I mean Adam I thought it was a real shaky start for for Justin uh fumbles the first snap of the game I think the next series he had another Bobble um and he barely got the hand off off to Naji Harris um he missed van Jefferson on a wide wide open um pass play and he threw behind Naji Harris so after like two or three series I'm thinking gez how how is this gonna go but you know as that game wore on um he he just had a calming presence about him and um he made a big play before halftime uh to get them in the field goal range that cut the deficit to one and I think it gave them momentum and I you know I think that finally just settled him down a little bit so you look at the final stat line it's nothing impressive the most impressive thing to me about it especially considering his reputation in Chicago when he arrived here in Pittsburgh was turning the ball over zero turnovers and if he does that with that Steelers defense um they win a lot of games as long as he has to be the quarterback yeah and I he he did some nice things with his feet right and I think a question um you know a lot of people are having is how much of of those crucial you know third down conversions that he was able to make with his Feats they weren't flashy runs it's not like he was ripping off you know a 50- yard run or anything but um he had the ability to scramble and get two three yards when the Steelers really needed it um and it seemed to pair well with what the offensive line is capable of doing right now with all of the youth in inexperience up front um they seemed to complement each other well um how does that change if for example Russell Wilson's in there and maybe not as willing or able to make those types of conversions well yeah I mean that's the interesting part about the decision that Mike tomman has this week Justin Fields has proven that he can do whatever it takes to help the Steelers win the football game and they still don't have that exposure to to Russell Wilson so automatically for Mike Tom thinking okay I'm GNA play this out with with with Justin Fields until I absolutely know that Russell Wilson is 100% And um you know we'll see how that goes with this week Adam but the guy's been injured since July 24th um he really didn't ramp up his activity until mid August and even in the preseason he didn't do much um in terms of reps with a starter so this clearly is an injury that's that's probably continue to bother him so we'll see what Mike tomman says on Tuesday and you know ultimately I don't think the decisions gonna come until you know Thursday or Friday but to me everything points in the direction that uh Justin Fields is going to be this team's quarterback until Wilson is fully healthy from that injury and I just I just thought that happens within a couple of days I don't like to and I don't think any of us here at the Paz that like to stir the national media quarterback controversy Russell Wilson Justin field you know all the the big headlines and stuff but it is a conversation still that you have to have after the way Justin Fields played Sunday the way I kind of decided to approach it um you know I do my five questions about the Steelers in the NFL uh to start the week on postgazette.com and and the way I approached the conversation was could this be like a Mark Andre flurry situation in 2017 where uh Matt Murray goes down with a a freak injury in net um right before game one of the Stanley Cup finals you have to put mark under lurry into service and he pretty much held the net until he started to show cracks in the Conference Finals um is there Merit to possibly handling the the the conversation that way saying like it's obvious why the Steelers would prefer to have Russell Wilson's experience in there but you know as long as as Justin Fields is winning games and considering I think the dimension that was not in that Penguins conversation is that he is the younger quarterback and if he can carry the Baton for an extended distance right is that not better for the Steelers long-term future um than than handing the Reigns immediately back to to the veteran quarterback rather than seeing what you've got with Justin Fields yeah I I think first and foremost Adam this is a decision that comes down to Russell Wilson's Health um but in the end you're you're right you know is if they continue to win games with Justin Fields a quarterback the harder it gets for Mike tomman to go away from him but we should point out there listen there's a difference between Justin field running for 57 yards and thrown for a buck 50 and what whatever he did yesterday to you know running for a 100 yards and and playing like Lamar Jackson did um the other night in the Ravens opener you know it was a good performance by Justin Fields because the Steelers won but there's still a lot of stuff to clean clean up um within that offense and I understand it's not perfect you know young offensive line injuries on the line Jaylen Warren obviously wasn't 100% kind of a stacked deck against Arthur Smith um to kick off the season which really makes that win all the more impressive so I I think Mike tomman is eventually gonna go back to Russell Wilson that's what I'm saying I just don't know if there's an urgency to do that right now and if you're the Steelers why not see if you can get him healthy and ride this thing out with Justin Fields until Justin Fields has a bad game so um like I said we we'll see what happens uh later in the week here but uh you know at the very least I think we know tman now has the confidence to go back to Justin Fields if need be what is your I mean in your experience what's your read on this this calf injury for Russell Wilson because as you already noted I mean July 24th is when it happened um and and we're you know we're not quite at two months but it's it's pretty much a month and a half since that injury and and he's still dealing with it still flaring up to the point that he has to miss this game I mean how much can an injury like this linger um you know in the NFL yeah for a 36 year old guy who's aging I mean usually these things don't turn out great so um you know and the thing that I should have mentioned earlier the late stages of Ben rothberger uh career what was Mike tomlin's biggest complaint quarterback Mobility he looked around looked around the division and he saw Lamar Jackson he saw other guys in the AFC moving around and and making plays when plays broke down and he didn't have that with Ben so you knew when he got his new quarterback and you know we say whatever you want about the last two years those guys were fairly athletic and he's got the same thing again this year Russell Wilson and Justin fields are two athletic quarterbacks but there is a stark difference between the athleticism and the mobility of Justin Fields right now and what we would be getting with a hobbled Russ Wilson listen if Russell Wilson was 100% he could still move well enough to to to make plays and you know to scramble in the pocket throw the ball downfield or even Scramble for running yards to pick up a first down but I don't think he's that type of player when he's dealing with what you could only say right now is a fairly significant calf injury a calf injury that at the very least won't go away so um you know an interesting dilemma as the sea prepare for for Denver in week two here I think think everyone was anticipating Russell Wilson going back to to play the Broncos Revenge game that type of thing I just don't know if we're gonna get it yeah I mean that's that's definitely going to be the story to monitor of the week um last thing I wanted to touch on though before we move on to the defense in the next segment was um really a rough day for for receivers not named George pickings um I think the whole rest of the receiving room contributed two catches for eight yards I think it was one for Van Jefferson one for Calvin Austin the um how how much is did that contribute to um the inability to finish drives when when you it felt like the Steelers if they were going to score a touchdown had to go drive you know 15 plays and make all these third and two conversions and that they weren't going to get yardage in chunks because they just flat didn't have the guys to do it yeah I mean it's it's kind of what everyone anticipated and you know people were not wrong about that receiver's room you know I thought Pat futh as the day were on I don't think he was Target or had a catch in the first quarter quarter quarter and a half of that game but eventually they got him untracked a little bit Adam he's he's eventually gonna be the number two target within this offense but your point is well taken they're gonna need much more out of Van Jefferson they're gonna need much more out of Calvin Austin Scotty Miller and the tight ends if this is going to be an offense um you know that's going to be one that that uh can have the Steelers be contenders in a very tough tough um AFC so um not really surprised because I I think we all anticipated that the depth at receiver might be an issue but that's definitely going to be another storyline to follow this week you know do they have the weapons to Actually March down the field and score touchdowns or you know is this field goal Fest is is that going to be something that's going to become the norm rather than the than the exception here this season Dan it's going to be interesting because you're going to be lining up across from Courtland Sutton um a person we talked a little bit about as as maybe another option aside from Brandon iuk for this Steelers to trade for bronos looked horrific offensively yesterday against Seattle we'll talk about that a little bit in the next segment but um you know you're going to get a close-up look at at a guy that perhaps could be an option for them before the NFL trade deadline um uh Ray we're gonna get into the defense here in a second it was a great dominant performance there's a lot of good things to talk through um so stay tuned before uh we get to that though I want to thank our friends at LP SM side here's a message from them between Beauty and durability making your neighbors jealous has never been easier introducing LP smart side expert finish trim and siding now in brushed smooth texture available in 16 versatile colors LP smart side expert finish products help create Timeless designs and beautiful longer lasting dream homes that's the beauty of brushed smooth all right thank you to them for that message um Ray let's let's talk about the defense it was it was a dominant day um forcing turnovers um snuffing drives you allow the one touchdown drive but other than that I mean this group looked great and I think it went far beyond you know TJ watt being unable to be contained um I think my question for you right is how much of that is how good this defense is and can be and how much of it was the way Atlanta seemed to to be babying uh Kirk Cousins not putting him under Center at all um kind of limiting what they could do offensively yeah listen I'm gonna give the Steelers um the bulk of the credit here and I've heard the same things about you know the Falcons and Kirk Cousins maybe be not being 100% um over his Achilles injury um but to me you know if that's the case then uh you know go with a different quarterback you you know you drafted Michael penx and Kirk Cousins isn't ready then may maybe you should have gone with him but I'm not going to downplay the dominance of that Steelers defense yesterday you mentioned the three turn turnovers they had two that were negated by penalties and one of them was was clearly negated by uh inefficient mistake so we could very easily be talking about four or five turnovers in this game and it's it's just um you know even a more dominating um you know performance so you know one blown coverage on that touchdown um it seemed like beanie Bishop maybe lost where Kyle pittz was but other than that Adam there wasn't really a lot to complain about I thought Terell Austin and Mike tomman had them ready to play um you know we could talk all about Kirk Cousins being Rusty and not being good yesterday bejon Robinson is really good you know they they kind of held him in check 68 yards he didn't do a lot of damage after the first drive um you know aler was pretty quiet uh Drake London had two catches for 15 yards and pits had the touchdown but I don't think pits had you know more than 35 receiving yards so just a masterful performance by that uh uh that defensive coaching staff and of course the players on the field they had a great game plan and they went out there and they executed it to Perfection I think a lot of people might have been surprised if they're just tuning in you you and I talk about this all offseason there's a lot of viewers that that have been with us for the entire ride but there's a lot of people that just show up week one and say you know show me what the team is um and they might have been surprised to see deshun Elliott and Dante Jackson take on um you know the the big plays that they did what was your read on their performance and and you know what kind of pieces they can be of this defense moving forward having now seen them in a game that counts yeah I mean we they changed out three fifths of their secondary and it was a good defense last season but they wanted to get stronger in the backend and you know more accurately they wanted to get faster they kind of felt like Patrick Peterson Kean O'Neil um you know those guys who were in those positions last year were older and slower and they they felt like they had to get um much more athletic and you you get that with Dante Jackson you watch that guy in the practice field that guy can run and uh he made a nice play to to kind of seal that game yesterday set up the final field goal that uh you know eventually put that game Out Of Reach and you know desan Elliott is is just a solid football player yeah he's bounced around but I I think he's gonna be really good for Minka Fitzpatrick um again Kirk Cousins stayed away from Minka yesterday but that really didn't play play into um you know anything good for the Falcons that actually played into the Steelers hands so um you know the the turnovers will eventually come for M Fitzpatrick but as long as you have guys like Dante Jackson and DeShaun Elliott catching the ball and making big plays for that defense um any time the Steelers are plus three in the turnover category it's going to be hard to beat them and you know we saw that yesterday yeah I think you introduced my next question well about you know how Minka Fitzpatrick played and and it looked to me Ray like he was just able to do what he wanted to do rather than doing what was necessary um you mentioned DeShaun Elliott next to him not a huge day from Patrick Queen I think he only had two tackles but um I think the general competency of the middle linebacking Corp allowed mink it to kind of float a little bit more I think of that one uh play that he stepped up they were shown two safeties and then he stepped up and and um nailed to Robinson at the line um and he ended up being the leading tackler I think he had seven tackles on the day for the defense so um are we seeing the impacts of those moves not just in terms of individual performance but what they allow one of the best players to do yeah eventually like I said the turnovers will come you know Minka is an all pro pro player he's one of the highest paid safeties in the L because in the league because he produces those turnovers and eventually they will come but I thought he was really solid solid yesterday um exactly what they needed him to be you mentioned um the seven tackles um you know that that's fine is as long as other guys are stepping up and making plays because the other team is worried about about you um that's just fine so really good game by m yesterday and I think we're only gonna see better games to come as he gets more familiar with DeShawn and that entire secondary kind of jills because that was the first time out for a secondary that as I mentioned had a lot of changes over the offseason anything else stand out to you defensively Ray before I want to talk a little bit about the officiating uh listen I thought pton Wilson was very active I think he had three or four tackles played a lot I haven't checked the snap snap counts yet today but um you know I want to say he might have played more than uh El Landon Roberts did in in that football game so pton Wilson was good and uh you know we could talk about TJ watt um All Season that's not going to change I thought Alex heith was really good too that front seven stepped up really after a first uh a first drive that they were kind of soft against the run after that it was pretty much a dominating uh defensive performance by the guys in the front seven you mentioned the offsides call on TJ watt earlier in the segment um negated a turnover there was the uh offensive pass interference against George Pickins that negated a huge play um that might have been the only touchdown Drive of the day for the Steelers had had that knock gotten called and then there was the the call on um wasn't even running into the kicker on Cameron Johnston and and he ended up you know being pretty injured um what did you think of of the officials and the role that they played and if if those calls go the way you know the Steelers you know probably preferred how how how much more of a a commanding Victory are we talking about this morning yeah I mean listen uh good teams are able to overcome bad officiating but boy the the stack the the deck was really stacked against the Steelers on Sunday and there was one you didn't even mention that uh you know George pickings caught a long pass from um Justin fields in the second half and the officials said he was touched down he was never touched down I mean that was probably the most egregious call of the day other other than um you know the offsides penalty so I guess it's week one for the officials as well you know these things tend to uh even out over the course of a season I guess if you're the year steers you're just thankful that your defense stepped up because that easily could have been a game that the officiating cost the Steelers and the defense just stepped up and didn't allow that yeah yeah I thought that was just a you don't want to complain about the refs um but it it was it was a lot for the Steelers to overcome and and I just wonder how much that's playing into the narrative considering it short circuited at least one drive for them and and if you score a touchdown instead of um you know a field goal that's you know you're over 20 22 23 points something like that I think you're feeling better and and that's the kind of impact that you know one call could have on not just the game but the entire narrative for the week after so something to monitor as we move forward um want to get to the rough day for the rest of the AFC North Division um everyone else lost before we do just want to thank a couple more sponsors this update is brought to you by sabinus Kanan G guchi mesothelioma and as bestus lawyers with over 85 years of experience called them now for a free consultation I want to also want to thank our friends at Moon Honda here is a message from them to build the Honda CRV hybrid we took everything you love about the CRV and kicked it up a notch with greater power for a CRV unlike any before Adventure confidently with Honda car and driver's most awarded brand in 10 best history the CRV and CRV hyri part of the Honda line of buged vehicles visit your local Honda dealer for new vehicles or arriving date buy online or Reserve from select Honda dealers yep if you're looking for a car visit our friends out at Moon Honda on University Boulevard uh out near Robert Morris uh all right Ray let's get into the division um Bengals lose to the Patriots in a 1610 ugly game um didn't get to see a ton of that because the Steelers were playing at the same time but um not a great development for Cincinnati the Browns never really were in it against uh the Cowboys it it it was a 17-point game for much of of that contest and then obviously the Ravens lose late against uh the Chiefs on Thursday night if you're looking at that group who do you think should be the most concerned as we head into week two the Browns um I I I was really low on the Browns to begin with but I got to catch a little bit of that game um after I was done doing my writing and stuff uh you know from the Steelers Falcons game and the sea Watson looks terrible I I don't know what they're doing with him um I know he wasn't a particularly polished quarterback when he came over from the Texans but he's got a great arm and he's got athleticism but he just doesn't seem to be a good fit for that Kevin stefansky offense and we all know what it is you can't get rid of him he he's got that that that contract that that they're gonna have to um you know pay him Millions upon millions of dollars uh for the next several years they're they're just just tied to him because that contract is so bad so I could see things going south um for the Browns really quick here this season and you know the Bengals listen T Higgins doesn't play Jamar Chase doesn't practice uh you know not totally unexpected I'm surprised that the Patriots won but I'm not surprised that the Bengals struggled in that game um looking ahead the Bengals get the Chiefs this week so so no real rest for them um the Browns get Jacksonville obviously they they've got a solid team led by Trevor Lawrence the Raiders the Ravens get the rav Raiders that's too many RWS in a short span there right um but I mean it's not inconceivable that the Steelers could have a two- game lead on on a couple of these teams after two weeks um you know particularly I think the Bengals and the Browns what kind of staying power could that have I mean we talk about sometimes about these early season games like they don't matter that much but if you get up two games on two members of the division when you know there were it would the Steelers were a popular pick nationally to finish in last place um I think you can almost say that that's probably not going to happen if you get up two games um and things continue to go reasonably well um in Denver and La these next couple weeks well the Steelers don't play any of their division games I I don't think until after Thanksgiving or right around that time so all they can do for the first half of the season is win the games that are in front of them we this was a talking point um since the schedule came out in May Adam it's a very manageable schedule for the Steelers in the first half of the season um you know you mentioned the Denver game Bo Knicks really struggled yesterday um Chargers look like they're going to be decent but they gotta come here then you go to Indi and then you have some other winable games in October October before it really gets rough um in November December and January so you know I I I said it all along I think they need to be probably six and two five and three at the worst if they want to make the playoffs this year and listen again if you if you go out and win at Denver and the Browns and Bengals are 0 and two it's going to make that uh you know that possibility even much more of a reality as we uh get deeper into September and October yeah I still think beating the Ravens for for the division is going to be be difficult but you know especially when all four of these teams were in the playoff race deep into the season last season um any lead you can get on them is a good thing and um you know I think something I've talked about a lot in my podcast with with Paul ziss is the luxury you have at quarterback is having one of these two guys to turn to pretty much no matter what um whereas like the Bengals lose Joe burrow last season their season was sunk right um if there's an injury in Baltimore that could change everything very quickly the Steelers you know I think what what you learned from Justin Fields yesterday is he can be probably the most confident backup in this division even if you do end up going back to Russell Wilson um so that's that's going to be something to monitor moving forward let's get out of here on this Ray you mentioned B Nick looked really rough yesterday I think he was 26 to 42 for 138 yards two interceptions no touchdowns um that's 3.3 yards per attempt I think the quarterback rating was under 50 um the the Denver had got nothing going on the ground either I think the the three backs um if you take Bo Nick's rushing totals out they averaged like 3.2 yards a carry it does not get more ugly than what Denver did yesterday um is this a must- win for the Steelers just considering how bad Denver looked yeah but it's not a pushover game and I I'll give you two reasons why number one it's in Denver that's a tough place to play with the altitude and number two is if you watched that game yesterday again I got to see a little bit of it because it was a four o'clock start um you know Denver Denver's defense actually played really well in the first half and even early in the second half before things kind of got away from them so I I think the Denver defense will keep them in the game they got a a lot of good players on that side the football but to me if the seahs just play the way they did against the Falcons don't turn the ball over lean on that defense I think this is another game that yes they should definitely win well we got a lot lot more time to talk about that Ray we got the whole rest of the week um so if you enjoyed this video everyone please subscribe we got so much more coming to you this week uh Brian beo will have chip tamam and football on Tuesday I believe his guest is going to be um new Steelers play-by-play man rob king um so that'll be an exciting guest to have uh then Christopher garter should be back in the seat on Wednesday for the Northshore Drive I'll be back on Thursday with Paul Zeiss um and the Northshore Drive on Friday and of course Paul and I will be recapping uh the game live uh on Sunday um pretty much as soon as the broadcast is over on CBS so make sure you subscribed if you enjoyed this video please like it help us out in the YouTube algorithm um helps tremendously otherwise we will talk to you again real soon thanks Ray thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Northshore Drive podcast from the post cazette if you watch this video on YouTube please like the video and subscribe to our channel for all the sports coverage from the Post Gazette that we have to offer visit postgazette.com [Music]