While the Pittsburgh Steelers offense has generally been solid through two weeks, one issue that persists is the QB/C exchange. QB Justin Fields fumbled two snaps in Week 1, and in Week 2, Frazier snapped the ball before Fields was ready, leading to another fumble in the fourth quarter. Fields explained that Frazier and Spencer Anderson saw the play clock winding down and snapped the ball before he was ready, leading to the fumble.
“We were supposed to go on two, but the left guard and Zach [Frazier], they saw the play clock going down, so they snapped it a little bit early, and I wasn’t ready for the snap,” Fields said via Steelers Live on Twitter.
While the Steelers have yet to turn the ball over on offense, the fact that they’ve had three poor snap exchanges in two games isn’t a great sign. Watching the play back, there was a lot of chaos among the offensive linemen pre-snap, and with the Steelers in the silent count, Fields wasn’t set to see the first tap. So technically, Frazier did snap the ball on the second tap, but Fields didn’t see the first, and the miscommunication led to the fumble.
Jaylen Warren was able to recover the fumble and gain 2 yards on the play, but if issues with the snaps continue, it could wind up being costly for the Steelers. It’s something that they’re undoubtedly working to clean up, and other than the snap issues, both Fields and Frazier have been impressive in their first two games with the Steelers.
Issues like what happened in Week 2 with the snap are the product of playing in a difficult road environment and the Steelers having to turn to the silent count. They saw the opposite happen in Week 1 against Atlanta, which, while a road game, was filled with Steelers fans. QB Kirk Cousins called over TE Ross Dwelley in motion late and the snap deflected off Dwelley and was recovered by T.J. Watt for a takeaway.
With Pittsburgh hosting the Los Angeles Chargers for their home opener on Sunday, they shouldn’t have to turn to the silent count, which will hopefully limit issues with miscommunication and make for a cleaner game. If there are issues with the snap for a third week in a row, especially in a home environment, it might be cause for concern. But so far, the Steelers have gotten lucky and been able to recover the ball.
They’ve been focused on controlling the ball and moving the chains on offense, but if they start having issues with turnovers, it will be an issue for this team. Given the extent that the snap issues have happened, it’s definitely something that the Steelers and Fields are working on fixing, and ideally, it’s not an issue for the rest of the season.
