The Pittsburgh Steelers insist that there is still a quarterback competition going on between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, even though the latter has long been considered the favorite to start.
Assuming the Steelers haven't truly made their decision yet, Fields didn't really help his cause in preseason Week 1. Granted, he certainly wasn't bad, but he also didn't do enough to move the needle in his quest to supplant Wilson for the "pole position."
During an appearance on ESPN's Get Up, former linebacker and current NFL analyst Bart Scott wasn't a fan of what he saw from Fields and even compared the Steelers quarterback to Tim Tebow, his former teammate.
The comparison isn't in regard to Fields' talent, because he's obviously got more than the failed quarterback. Rather, it has to do with how he pats the football too much when trying to make a decision about where to go with it.
"This guy continuously burps the baby," Scott said of Fields. "I hate for my friend Tim Tebow to take strays, but that reminds me of Tim Tebow in practice. You just can't do that. When a play breaks down, you burp the baby like that. You put the offensive tackles in a bind. Guys give up sacks and they're losing their career basically because you're burping the baby back there."
"It reminds me of Tim Tebow," Scott repeated. "We talk about burping the baby and how long it takes you to process. Waiting until a receiver's open in the NFL, you have to throw the receivers open in anticipation. He doesn't throw in process with great anticipation, which causes his offensive line protection to break down, which causes him to kind of scatter within the pocket.
"Ball security, job security, 38 fumbles since entering the NFL, it's five more than any other player. It's not acceptable."
Fields saw fumble issues in the preseason opener, also, after two bad exchanges between himself and center Nate Herbig. Pittsburgh managed to recover the two fumbles, but that doesn't erase the issue.
Scott is just the latest analyst to not love what he saw from Fields. Former NFL head coach Herm Edwards, who is also with ESPN, believes that Wilson will ultimately secure the job over Fields.
"There was some encouraging signs when he got the ball off," Edwards said on SportsCenter. "But there's also some signs that show disappointment in the fact that they were really sloppy on offense. Ball exchange, quarterback-center, holding the ball too long in the pocket at times. We saw this when he was in Chicago."
"No doubt, Russell Wilson is the starter," Edwards added. "And now, Justin Fields, will he have a role? I think he might have a role, maybe a slash role when the season starts. But right now, it's Russell Wilson's job to lose when the season starts."
Fields will have another opportunity to improve his standing in the race for the starting job in preseason Week 2 on Saturday.
