Pink Floyd’s 13th studio album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, features a largely-instrumental track titled “Signs of Life”

It was another good weekend for Pittsburgh football. The University of Pittsburgh hung 73 points on Youngstown State in a 56-point victory to move the Panthers to 4-0, their best start since the turn of the millennium. Redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein had another great game, tallying 247 yards and three touchdowns through the air and adding another 93 yards and two scores on the ground in three quarters of action. Holstein, through 4 games, has 1,186 passing yards and 12 passing touchdowns. Pitt will be off next weekend before traveling to Chapel Hill for an October 5th date with UNC to kick off ACC play. The Steelers also remained undefeated, winning their home opener to the tune of a 20-10 victory over the previously 2-0 Los Angeles Chargers, behind another stellar effort from Teryl Austin’s defense and, simply, a very good performance from Justin Fields.

The game started how one would expect a game between two good defenses (and two struggling offenses) to begin. The Chargers went three-and-out, then the Steelers went three-and-out, then the Chargers punted (they technically did not go three-and-out, as they ran a third-down play twice due to the first try being wiped out by an offensive holding penalty), and then the Steelers went three-and-out. Four drives, four punts, zero first downs, nine minutes and twenty-six seconds of game-time elapsed.

The Bolts would strike first, as a complete breakdown in communication allowed second-year wide receiver Quentin Johnston to be wide-open for a 27-yard touchdown with 2:46 remaining in the opening quarter. There were no defenders within 3-5 business days of him. The Steelers would answer back with a thirteen-play, 70-yard touchdown drive of their own, capped off by a five-yard Justin Fields quarterback draw that found pay dirt. 

The Chargers would tack on three more points with 3:16 remaining in the first half, giving them a 10-7 lead that would survive until the break, as a Chris Boswell 62-yard field goal attempt as time expired at the end of the half would not end up being close.

In the second half, the Steelers flipped a switch. They dominated on both offense and defense, outgunning the Chargers 255 to negative 5. The opening drive of the half led to a game-tying 38-yard field goal by Boswell. The defense then forced a three-and-out, aided by a Nick Herbig strip-sack. Justin Fields immediately followed that punt with one of his few mistakes of the day, an interception that ping-ponged off a few Chargers defenders before eventually finding its way into the hands of former Steelers first-round pick Bud Dupree, but the Chargers would surrender the ball back to the black-and-gold a mere three plays later with another punt, following an Elandon Roberts sack. 

The Steelers would capitalize on that three-and-out, driving from their own 15-yard line to the Chargers’ 12, allowing Boswell to kick the go-ahead field goal with 14:17 left in the game. At this point, Justin Herbert, the Chargers’ starting QB, was forced out of the game due to a suspected re-aggravation of an ankle injury sustained the previous week. Backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke came in and led the Chargers to one first down on the ensuing drive, a result of an 18-yard pass to rookie receiver Ladd McConkey, but the Bolts were ultimately forced to punt, with TJ Watt getting a crucial sack on 3rd-and-5 at midfield. 

The Steelers would again capitalize on this punt, getting from their own 16 to their own 45 in five plays. From the 45, Fields would thread a beautiful pass to Calvin Austin III on a slant approximately 13 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, hitting him in stride, and Austin would do the rest of the work, carrying the ball from the Chargers’ 42 to the end zone. It was 20-10 Steelers, which would end up being the final score. The Chargers would have one more drive—another three-and-out, with another sack—and the Steelers would have the ball for the last 4:59 of the game, getting the ball all the way down to the 1-yard line, opting to kneel the clock out instead of attempting to score.

Let me say this first: there are still things to work on. Fields was not perfect. The play-calling in the red zone—especially on the drives where the Steelers were forced to settle for field goals—was lackluster. The defense cannot afford to leave receivers wide open, especially in the end zone.

However, the team—mainly the offense—continues to show signs of improvement. For instance, look at Justin Fields’ pass chart below, provided by NFL Next Gen Stats. For the first time this season, it is evident that there was a concerted effort for the ball to be thrown over the middle of the field. Did one of those throws result in a turnover? Yes, and that needs to be cleaned up. However, another of those throws resulted in a 55-yard touchdown. It is much easier to run an offense when the entire field is at the quarterback’s disposal, as opposed to strictly throwing the ball outside the numbers.

I will admit that I would like to see a higher aDOT (average depth of target), as there were only two throws made beyond 20 yards in the air. But, we are seeing substantial improvement in Fields’ ability to use what is available to him, rather than simply being a one-read passer (yes, I know it is only week three). I was also quite impressed with his accuracy this week, completing over 78% of his passes, which was 10.6% higher than expected per NGS’s model.

I am not going to sit here and pretend that Fields is the long-term answer at quarterback. It is a) too early to make any sort of judgment like that, and b) he still has not shown us enough to warrant a contract extension in the realm of what the pay for quarterbacks on their second contracts generally is. I will say, though, that it is time for the Steelers to announce that Fields is officially the starter until further notice, regardless of the status of Russell Wilson’s calf. Fields has done what is necessary to win games for this team, shown a good command of the offensive scheme that Arthur Smith has implemented, and is demonstrating a week-by-week improvement early in the season.

Justin Fields is not Lamar Jackson. He is not Michael Vick. He is not Ben Roethlisberger. But, for an offense that has largely been on a ventilator since the latter retired, he is helping it exhibit signs of life on a more consistent basis in a small sample size than we have been accustomed to for three years.