The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 18-10, in Week 1. Justin Fields started in place of an injured, but still fully padded Russell Wilson and didn't blow it. The Steelers didn't score any touchdowns. Still, it doesn't take much for media members to get a take off, which is exactly what happened after Fields officially started 1-0 with his new team.
On Get Up Monday morning Rex Ryan insisted he always believed in Fields and explained that he could still see the quarterback becoming a superstar.
"Nothing against Russell Wilson because he's not healthy right now. So the decision is simple. ... If all of a sudden [Justin Fields] hits, you are looking at a superstar."
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) September 9, 2024
—Rex Ryan on the Steelers 👀 pic.twitter.com/R35qlfPYIV
"Nothing against Russell Wilson because he's not healthy right now," said Ryan. "So the decision's simple. And you know, I've always called this guy the future because I love the ability of this guy right here. But the future's the whole string of nouns. And right now he gets to play again. And I thought in the offseason, it's the best trade by far in the season, was getting this guy for nothing! For a sixth round pick which was absolutely crazy. And look, I get it. Okay. Initially when he came into the league, he's a better athlete than he is a quarterback. Okay. So what? So was Steve Young. You know what I mean? So was Randall Cunningham. Well guess what? They can get better. Those guys have a tendency to get better. And if all of a sudden this guy hits you're looking at a superstar."
Now, if you're looking for a comp that could work out, Steve Young is a pretty good pull. He was bad on a bad Tampa Bay team for two years and then spent many years backing up Joe Montana in San Francisco before taking over a really good team and becoming an actual superstar. Young was in his early thirties when he finally was put in a position to succeed.
While Ryan had nothing against Wilson, NFL Network's Steve Smith Sr. certainly did. On NFL GameDay Smith told Chris Rose that Fields should absolutely be the starter and that Wilson stood no shot of leading the Steelers to touchdowns.
"I'm going with Justin Fields," said Smith. "I have to go with Justin Fields. The Russell Wilson that we are holding on hope to, he went to the store, got cigarettes and has not come back. Bottom line. He has not come back. If you are going to believe that Russell Wilson is that guy. he's not. Arthur Smith's offense has never had a top-five quarterback. So his offense is used to having guys that can move around. Marcus Mariota. Some of those guys. Justin Jefferson... Justin Fields gives them an opportunity."
"This offense is not perfect by any means with either one of them," Smith continued, "but I don't see all of the sudden them scoring all of these points. What have we seen out of Russell Wilson in the last two years when he was in Denver that will make you believe that all of a sudden he's going to shake all that rust off? And he just going to go out there and put up 250 yards. I don't see when that is going to happen."
Fields finished with 156 yards passing. And as Rose pointed out, the Steelers offense scored zero touchdowns with Fields leading the offense. Fields was also the primary starter in Chicago for three seasons and the team finished 24th, 28th and 20th in yards. They improved slightly every season to the point where they were 18th in scoring in 2023.
There wasn't much to be optimistic about during his time with Chicago. There wasn't really much to be optimistic about during his first game with Pittsburgh. But if you believe, you've got to put it out there before something goes wrong.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Justin Fields Truthers Return After First Win With Steelers.
