During Thursday night’s loss to the Cleveland Browns, we saw the Pittsburgh Steelers utilize the so-called Justin Fields package at its highest rate so far. It wasn’t much, but Fields had seven offensive snaps. That was up from three the previous game against the Baltimore Ravens.
However, the results were a mixed bag. Fields had a huge 30-yard run that he felt should have been a touchdown. Despite failing to score on the play and a couple of mishaps on the following two plays, the Steelers were able to find the end zone on that drive.
But it’s those miscues that dominated the view of the Fields package against the Browns. One of the big problems that reared its ugly head was when QB Russell Wilson came off the field for Fields on a fourth-down play. It led to confusion on the offensive line and a failed conversion attempt.
“I get what they’re trying to do here,” said Brian Batko on the #1 Cochran Sports Showdown on Sunday. “They’ve had issues in the red zone. Russell Wilson not completing a lot of passes inside the 20, even fewer inside the 10. So that’s been a little bit of an Achilles heel for him since he did take over as the starter. You wanna try to get something going, you wanna try to have a little bit of that cheat code with the athleticism on the short yardage, but it seemed more disjointed than not Thursday. And they, they’ve gotta try to figure that out now that they have this little mini bye, the right feel to have for when to mix him in there.”
That 30-yard run showcases exactly why the Steelers are trying to figure out how to get Fields on the field at points. He’s got incredible athletic ability that Wilson doesn’t have at this stage in his career. It forces defenses to have to adjust on the fly or let Fields run all over them. When he was the starter, Fields had five rushing touchdowns. He’s a threat that defenses have to respect.
But the Steelers didn’t just try to utilize Justin Fields’ legs against the Browns. They had Fields drop back to pass twice. One time, his incomplete pass was wiped out by a roughing the passer call. But the second time was an incomplete pass on third down late in the game.
There is a need to mix things up. You can’t just spam runs with Fields when you bring him in. But Mark Kaboly questioned the timing.
“Is that the time you wanna change your tendencies, though?” asked Kaboly. “To me, in that situation, you’re gonna put him in there for two downs. You gotta have Justin Fields run it at least once. You don’t have him hand it off and then throw a 50-50 ball in that situation. And to me, the usage is fine. It’s the when do you do it and how do you do it. I mean, he’s a great athlete, they are gonna use him. But to me, they gotta figure out the right circumstances and that end-of-game situation was not the right circumstance.”
The Steelers were clinging to a 19-18 lead with just over three and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter. A completed pass for the first down helps keep the Steelers’ offense on the field to bleed more clock. Unfortunately, the ball fell incomplete. And P Corliss Waitman compounded the problems with a 15-yard punt in the elements.
The Browns then drove 45 yards to score what became the game-winning touchdown. Would a first down there by the Steelers have prevented the Browns from winning? Maybe. Or at least it would have made it much more difficult than driving 45 yards.
And that’s the issue Kaboly has. He doesn’t have a problem with Fields seeing the field. But we haven’t seen much of the Fields package. Do you want to rely on a less-than-sharp package in a huge moment like that? Evidently, the Steelers felt like they could, but it failed.
Regardless of the results of the Browns game, the Steelers seem to be committed to working Justin Fields into their offense. Perhaps offensive coordinator Arthur Smith should take Nick Wright’s suggestion of getting Fields and Russell Wilson on the field at the same time. That might allow for bigger plays while limiting the confusion.
