QB Justin Fields’ preseason debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers had some nice moments. He connected twice with WR George Pickens and had a couple of nice throws to WR Van Jefferson in three drives of work.
Unfortunately, that performance was overshadowed (at least partially) by two fumbled quarterback-center exchanges with C Nate Herbig. Thankfully, the Steelers were able to recover both fumbles, but those hurt the offense. Is it something that’s fixable? Absolutely, and it’s a priority for the Steelers.
“Thankfully that was the preseason, but whether it’s a practice or preseason, we don’t want that,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said after Monday’s training camp practice per an X post from 93.7 The Fan. “That’s why we play the guys. We’ve got to get that stuff cleaned up, and we needed it cleaned up yesterday.”
Working to correct mistakes, most notably the center/QB exchange #Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith pic.twitter.com/rSFTkJEEdx
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) August 12, 2024
Head coach Mike Tomlin said that in those types of situations, there’s blame to go around to both parties. In this case, you have two players who hadn’t worked together until the Steelers acquired Fields in a trade this offseason.
Another part of that is Herbig hasn’t played much center at all in the NFL. And even though Tomlin says that both Herbig and Fields were culpable for the bad exchanges, Herbig took full responsibility post-game. Maybe Herbig took the fall as a veteran guy. Or it could be that he truly believes he could have snapped those two balls much better.
Regardless, neither Herbig nor Fields are rookies. They are both veteran players, so they should not be making mistakes like those bad exchanges that close together. Mistakes do happen, but two fumbled exchanges in three drives is not sustainable.
Both Herbig and Fields are in competitions to start in 2024. Herbig is trying to hold off rookie C Zach Frazier, a second-round pick in this year’s NFL draft. The Steelers feel like Frazier is the center of the future, so Herbig needs to prove that he’s worthy of being the starter right now.
Of course, Fields is part of the most high-profile competition on the Steelers’ roster with fellow QB Russell Wilson. He needs to prove that he’s capable of leading the Steelers to points and wins. So he cannot afford to make costly errors.
The Steelers won’t tolerate mistakes like bad exchanges for long. That’s why Smith says that these issues need to be fixed yesterday.
Sloppy exchanges in the second preseason game versus the Buffalo Bills could be the end of either player’s competition. And fumbled snaps in the regular season could cost the Steelers wins. The team needs to control everything it can, and it begins with the ball going cleanly from the center to the quarterback.
