For former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel, Justin Fields has plenty of room for improvement. Despite completing 5-of-6 passes in his Pittsburgh Steelers debut Friday night against the Houston Texans, Daniel spotted plenty of flaws in his game.
In a deep-dive film room on Fields’ play, Daniel focused on two main issues. Two fumbles and two sacks.
“Not good. Not a good start for Justin Fields,” was Daniel’s overall assessment.
Center-quarterback exchanges with Nate Herbig were a problem in the 17 snaps Fields logged. Twice, there were problems with the snap under center, the Steelers fortunate to recover both.
“These two botched snaps had Mike Tomlin absolutely crazy right there. You heard him in the postgame press conference…it looks like maybe his hands are coming open. This is something Mike Tomlin can’t stand. This is a huge issue. If you can’t get the snap from the center, you can’t play quarterback.”
After the game, Tomlin spread blame to Herbig and Fields. Regardless of who is at fault, they’re basic errors that shouldn’t happen between two veteran players. In his breakdown, Daniel wondered how many reps the two received in camp, but Herbig and Fields have worked together throughout almost all of it, Fields receiving first-team reps while Russell Wilson was sidelined with a calf injury.
“It negated a lot of good things going on in those first couple drives…We start our practices with it, and so it’s unacceptable,” Tomlin said postgame.
Tomlin’s referring to the under-center work Steelers quarterbacks and centers do individually before anything else each practice. Reps aren’t the issue. Execution is. Daniel had trouble figuring out why Fields had so many issues though Dan Orlovsky posited that Fields’ hands weren’t moving quickly enough.
While Daniel’s commentary is critical, he’s spoken highly of Fields in other moments. Last month, he guaranteed Fields would take over the starting job by Halloween.
Beyond the two fumbles, Fields took a pair of sacks. Daniel gave him a pass for the first one, blaming WR George Pickens instead. He laid into Fields for the second one, taken down for a 7-yard loss on 3rd and 6 from the Texans’ 36.
“You can’t take a sack here. Throw it away. This is field-goal range,” Daniel said. “When No. 1 isn’t open, he struggles to get back to No. 2 and No. 3.”
Since entering the league in 2021, no quarterback has been sacked more than Fields (135). Second on that list is Russell Wilson’s 133, numbers that must be corrected this year no matter who Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback is. Both quarterbacks have a tendency to hold onto the ball too long. Per Pro Football Focus, Fields’ snap-to-throw time against the Texans was 3.06 seconds. While a small sample size, of the 23 preseason quarterbacks with at least five attempts so far, Fields is 19th in throwing time. Another number to monitor, for us and for Daniel, who clearly isn’t impressed.
