While the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off a 34-32 Week 1 win over the New York Jets, it wasn’t due to their efforts in stopping QB Justin Fields. Fields, Pittsburgh’s Week 1 starter last season, had a great day against his former team, throwing for 218 yards and a touchdown while adding another 48 yards and two scores on the ground. Fields was able to use his legs to extend plays and evade sacks, and Steelers S Juan Thornhill doesn’t think the team was ready to play a quarterback with Fields’ mobility.
“We got a lot of things we got to work on already on the defensive side. I just feel like we might not have been prepared for a running quarterback because we’ve been seeing a guy like Aaron all camp where he’s not really using his legs to try to beat us. And then the first game of the year, you come out here against a guy that can run a 4.4 \[40-yard dash\], it just adds a little bit more to the game. Next time, I just feel like we’ll be prepared for that,” Thornhill said [via video posted to Steelers.com](https://www.steelers.com/video/watch-killebrew-loudermilk-thornhill-wilson-and-clark-media-availability-sept-8?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=discord).
Despite their Week 1 struggles, Thornhill said no one on defense is panicking.
“I’m not really panicked at all. I don’t think no one on the defensive side is panicking, not one bit.”
It’s only one game, so the panic level shouldn’t necessarily be high. But the Steelers had no answer for not only Fields, but also the Jets’ rushing attack, as Breece Hall went over 100 yards and picked up chunk runs throughout the game.
While practicing against Rodgers, a quarterback who isn’t going to hurt a team with his legs, doesn’t allow the Steelers to see and prepare for quarterback mobility, they’ve known for a long time that they were going up against Fields in Week 1. He’s one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the league, and the Steelers defenders who were with the team last season know that and have practiced against him. Just because they haven’t practiced against a mobile quarterback shouldn’t really be an excuse to not be ready to face one.
There’s a lot that the Steelers defense will have to correct, and this week won’t be a fun one for the group when they watch film. For the league’s highest-paid defense, it was alarming to see them again struggle to stop the run after allowing 299 rushing yards to the Baltimore Ravens in their Wild Card Round loss. It’s the biggest issue the team had to correct, but they looked lost for most of the game when it came to containing Fields and Hall.
There’s enough veteran leadership on the defensive side of the ball that there should be an emphasis on not allowing what happened in Week 1 to continue. The defense shouldn’t be panicking yet, and one game shouldn’t really raise the panic meter too high, but if the run struggles continue, it’ll be problematic.
The Steelers will see plenty of mobile quarterbacks this season, including Lamar Jackson twice, so Thornhill better be right that the Steelers will be prepared to defend quarterback mobility or winning the AFC North will be nothing more than a pipe dream.