With 231 rushing yards on the season, Justin Fields ranks 31st in the NFL. Najee Harris ranks 11th, in case you care, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ two leading rushers. Fields ranks second among quarterbacks in rushing yards, behind only Lamar Jackson’s 403.
And as the Steelers pick things up on the ground, Fields believes he can only be more effective taking off. With two more rushing touchdowns yesterday, he ranks tied for the fifth-most such scores this season. That’s three more touchdowns than Jackson has running, though the Ravens have Derrick Henry’s eight rushing touchdowns now.
While Justin Fields accounts for five of the Steelers’ six rushing touchdowns, he believes they have the formula to be more consistent on the ground moving forward. And he believes we saw an example of that late in the Steelers’ 32-13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on his second touchdown.
“It just gives the defense something else to worry about”, Fields said after the Steelers improved to 4-2 about his threat to run. “The first [touchdown], they played that play pretty well. Of course we were able to capitalize on that. The o-line was blocking pretty good, so I just escaped to the edge”.
“I got into the end zone on the second one. I think the defense was so worried about Najee from his touchdown that that backside was just wide open”, Fields continued. “Great play-calling. It was pretty much wide open, and it made my job easy”.
Justin Fields’ five rushing touchdowns this year are already the second-most of his career. In 2022, he rushed for 1,143 yards with eight touchdowns on the ground. While he is nowhere near that yardage pace, he can threaten Kordell Stewart’s franchise quarterback single-season rushing touchdown mark.
The Steelers’ offense helped Harris to his first 100-yard rushing game of the season yesterday, with effort all around contributing. That included some of his own most physical running of the season, and as Fields said, it can get better.
Running quarterbacks typically benefit rushing games, but both have to command respect individually. Defenses have stacked the box against Harris this year, but now that he is breaking through, they will have to account for him with more than just numbers. And then they will have to choose between Harris and Fields.
That is assuming the Steelers keep Justin Fields in the starting lineup, which is at least open for discussion. Russell Wilson is now fully healthy, and he may take some first-team snaps this week. While the Steelers scored a season-high 32 points, it wasn’t because of Fields throwing well. In fact, beyond his legs, he had arguably his worst game of the season so far.
Assuming the Steelers do keep Fields on the field, though, the symbiotic relationship between the surging ground game and his threat to run could give defensive coordinators ulcers as they plan to stop it. And let’s not forget they are only just getting Jaylen Warren back, with Cordarrelle Patterson still on the mend.
