The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking for ways to spark their offense after a month of poor production. Naturally, the speculation has mostly centered on the usage of Justin Fields. Mike Tomlin said they were open to using him more, while Arthur Smith said they will be leaving no stone unturned in the playoffs. But will all of this talk lead to action?
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko offered his opinion on 93.7 The Fan’s Pomp & Joe Show earlier today.
“I don’t get the sense that we are gonna all of a sudden see them break open the seal on Fields,” Batko said. “That’s why I was kind of pounding the table for that last week against the Bengals. I thought that was the game that you had some wiggle room to see what he’s got, put some things on tape, make the Ravens think about it even more.”
This can be looked at in two ways. On one hand, the Steelers got six games of experience working with Fields (and a few more in the preseason). They should have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t, as well as what plays the rest of the offense is comfortable with while he’s at quarterback.
On the other hand, they haven’t really given him a strong look since his last start in Week 6. That is a long time ago, and the offense looks a little different than it did in mid-October. He has only played 13 snaps off the bench this season.
Fans might carry the mentality that the Steelers have nothing to lose and that they should go outside of their comfort zone in an effort to find a spark. I doubt the Steelers feel that same way. They can be “open” to trying new things without completely revamping things.
“I just don’t get the feeling that Mike Tomlin is gonna turn over a new leaf and all of a sudden go away from sticking with his guy, believing in Russell Wilson, and trusting him to get this team to where they want to go,” Batko said. “I just wouldn’t bet on it.”
Justin Fields spoke to the media earlier in the week and phrased his answer in a peculiar way. He said he’s happy to have the Ravens “waste” practice time on watching more of his film. It wouldn’t be a waste unless the Steelers barely end up using Fields.
Even when they were experimenting with using Fields off the bench, they didn’t seem to have a firm grasp on which situations they were planning on using him. The offense looked disjointed the few times they did it.
I tend to agree with Batko. As much as I would like the Steelers to open things up a bit more, I expect about five snaps for Fields at the most. I am very open to being wrong.
