The Pittsburgh Steelers' coaching staff, led by head coach Mike Tomlin, got an indirect compliment from quarterback Justin Fields. When on the “Not Just Football” podcast with Steelers teammate Cam Heyward, Fields was asked about which team had the better coaching. The former Bears signal-caller kept it a buck.
“Pittsburgh,” he said, “it’s not close.”
Fields continued to talk about what it was like the days and weeks before being traded.
“I kinda had a feeling I was gonna get traded,” Fields said. “You know, after the season, you have to go to exit meetings. They kept it pretty brief, they said, ‘Tricky situation right here. A situation that we’ve never been in.’ … It’s two different conversations when you’re in the same situation (having the No. 1 pick in the draft). You kinda get the feeling of what’s gonna happen.”
But it wasn't always roses between Fields and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, at least when Smith was with the Atlanta Falcons.
“The past two years we played him with Chicago when he was in Atlanta,” Fields said. “He’s a trash talker dog. He used to be talking crazy.
“It’s been great with him so far just his competitive spirit,” Fields said. “He’s really smart he knows how to detail plays to his players' strengths, so it’s been great.”
Fields has passed for 518 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. More impressively, the 25-year-old signal-caller has completed 73.3% of his passes.
Assessing Justin Fields' renaissance with Steelers
Although the Steelers are 3-0, they've been fortunate not to fall behind early or be forced to stray from their conservative offensive game plan. Beating the Falcons, Broncos and Chargers to start the year may not be as impressive as the Steelers' unblemished record.
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Calvin Austin III explained how there's “no panic” in the Steelers' offense.
“It used to be a lot of you know looking around and searching but I feel like now it’s no panic,” Austin said. “We got the answers. It’s just about we go over, and we look at the iPad, clean up what we got to clean up. We talk about what plans we like next and we go out and we execute. It’s simple, you know?”
“It’s everybody I would say, but definitely Coach [Arthur] Smith,” Austin continued. “He always… checks in with us after each drive, what we like, what we don’t like, what we’ve been seeing. The quarterbacks, Justin [Fields], Russ [Wilson], Kyle [Allen], they always do a good job of just communicating to us and talking to us, so that definitely goes a long way.”
A streamlined game plan seems to have served Fields well, though the Colts have a lot to play for after starting the year with back-to-back losses. Indy hosts Pittsburgh in Week 4 at 1:00 p.m. EST.
