In his much-anticipated debut for the Pittsburgh Steelers Friday night against the Houston Texans at Acrisure Stadium, there were a few flashes of good from quarterback Justin Fields that certainly raised some eyebrows.
There were also a couple of negative plays that really hindered the Steelers’ first-string offense in the 20-12 preseason loss. Particularly, the two fumbled center-quarterback snap exchanges between Fields and center Nate Herbig Fields.
Those two fumbles — which the Steelers both thankfully recovered — were lamented by head coach Mike Tomlin after the game as something that simply can’t happen and needs cleaned up. Obviously, they do.
Fields and Herbig both took the blame for the issues, but looking closer at the snaps and the fumbles, it’s clear who they fall on, and it’s not going to make many fans happy. The fumbled exchanges fall on Justin Fields.
Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky broke down the two fumbled snaps and pointed to Fields’ under-center mechanics for the fumbled exchanges, citing him not sticking with Herbig on the move, “riding” his hands with his center to secure the football.
“You could see Justin’s hands right there. And then when the ball gets snapped, that center’s gotta step to his right. So often, quarterbacks and centers during these exchanges have these conversations about, ‘Hey, if I have to move really significantly, you gotta come with me, ’cause naturally my body’s gonna move, the ball’s gonna move,'” Orlovsky said highlighting the first fumbled snap via video on his Twitter page. “So look at Justin’s hands, basically where they should be. And then the snap happens. And as that center steps to the right, I see a little bit of the ball coming off of his right, let’s say under his right thigh. Did Justin move his hands with him to go with him? You have to be able to do that.
“Or the center’s gotta adjust and make sure that the ball doesn’t move that much. I’m trying to figure out what happened on this, but that’s my guess is that center steps hard to the right and Justin’s hands don’t really move and there’s that disconnect.”
On the play, Herbig has to step and reach the Houston defensive tackle who is shaded just to the inside or right guard James Daniels, making it a longer reach for Herbig than normal if the defender was truly lined up in the A-gap. Therefore, Herbig has to step hard and fast to get there and help Daniels.
Fields has to know this and “ride” with Herbig through the snap of the football to secure the exchange.
He doesn’t, and the ball ends up on the ground.
Here’s a better look from behind at the snap, slowed down for the viewer.
You can see the snap is just off to the right of where Fields’ hands were originally. Again, that’s because of the hard step from Herbig. That’s a natural movement and shift in this instance, so there has to be that communication between center and quarterback that, “Hey, I’m stepping hard right, stick with me.”
We’ll never know if that did or did not happen. What’s clear is that Fields did not move with his center to help him out, the ball came up just off to the right of where Fields’ hands originally were, and it led to the fumbled snap.
On the second fumbled exchange, that’s exactly what happened, just to the left this time.
“Justin’s hands stay underneath and see how that ball’s just a little bit off to the [left]? So that’s something they have to work on, have that conversation about, have to work on, okay?” Orlovsky added regarding the second fumble. “Again, these things are hugely important. They’re very little, but they have massive impacts on good or bad plays.”
They are very little details in the grand scheme of things, but as Orlovsky said, they are hugely important.
The center-quarterback exchange is the key to every play. Literally.
Without a clean snap exchange, the play can’t function as designed, and the Steelers saw that very clearly twice on Friday night.
The good news is that the issue is correctable. It just comes with time and repetitions. Fields and Herbig have worked a lot together in training camp and there haven’t been any issues, but snapping in-stadium with a defender across from you trying to make a play is much different than in training camp.
Kudos to both for taking 100% of the blame after the game, being professional and accountable. But it seems pretty clear breaking this down further where the issue was, and where it needs cleaned up.
