When Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke to the media ahead of Friday’s game against the Houston Texans, he talked about the starting lineup. We were excited when Tomlin said he planned to start Justin Fields at quarterback and Russell Wilson won’t play.
Then in the next breath, he really disappointed us when he said Fields and the “starters” would only play a couple of series. This means the bulk of the quarterback reps will go to third-string quarterback Kyle Allen and Fourth-string quarterback John Rhys Plumlee.
This is completely counterintuitive on two fronts. First, if you really want a quarterback competition, what better way to evaluate Fields in this setting against starters and backups for longer than two series? There’s no pressure of Wilson coming in after and outplaying him so you get a clear perspective.
Secondly, this is a brand new offense and if the coaches want to properly evaluate its effectiveness, is an entire half of Plumlee the way to go?
We’d love to see Fields play the entire first half, let Allen and Plumless split the second and go from there. Then once Wilson is healthy, give him a full half and see where they both stand.
