Leading up to the AFC Wild Card matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, there was quite a bit of talk about the Black and Gold utilizing dynamic backup quarterback Justin Fields Saturday night.
Head coach Mike Tomlin stated he was open to utilizing Fields while offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said that the Steelers would leave no stone unturned when asked if Fields would see some playing time.
Now, with kickoff nearly here, it seems like Fields will see quite a bit of work against the Ravens.
“They put packages in this week to get Justin Fields on the field. I would expect him to play significant snaps,” Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said on the Amazon Prime pregame show, according to video via the Amazon Prime.
Justin Fields has not taken a snap since Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles. In that Steelers road loss, Fields had an 8-yard run in the first half but injured his abdomen on a late hit from Eagles safety Reed Blankenship, knocking him from the game.
Prior to that, Fields had played just 11 snaps since being the starting quarterback for the first six games of the season.
After Russell Wilson took over as the starter in Week 7, Fields played just three snaps against the Ravens in Week 11, seven snaps against the Cleveland Browns in Week 12, two snaps against the Bengals in Week 13, and then just the one snap against the Eagles before getting injured.
Fields then missed games against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 16 and the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 17 before being healthy against the Bengals in Week 18. Still, he did not take a snap in the regular-season finale.
Based on Breer’s report, that should change against the Ravens. What “significant snaps” are from Breer’s perspective remains to be seen, but it seems like Fields will have an important role against the Ravens.
Hopefully that includes some short-yardage and red-zone packages to give the Steelers’ offense a shot in the arm.
