The Pittsburgh Steelers have some serious problems on offense. They’ve struggled to score recently, failing to break the 20-point mark in each of their last four games. That’s why FOX Sports has the Steelers’ offense as one of the six-worst units among playoff teams.
But one of the biggest (and longest-running) issues is their struggles on first down. Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora broke down the numbers, and they’re all bad. The Steelers are last in the league in yards per play on first down at 4.6. The Steelers average 4.0 yards per rush on first down, 27th in the league. And they average 5.6 yards when passing on first down, 30th in the league.
No matter how you slice it, the Steelers are pretty darn terrible on first down. And now they’re facing the Baltimore Ravens to kick off the playoffs. If they continue to struggle on first down, the Steelers will almost certainly be one-and-done in the playoffs again.
But Dan Orlovsky has an idea of how to kick-start the Steelers.
“I would play Justin Fields on first downs,” Orlovsky said Thursday on ESPN’s Get Up. “It’s a bad first-down offense in Pittsburgh, and it has been for a couple weeks now. Number one, they’re worst in yards per play. That’s both the pass game struggling and the run game. They don’t get to the second level. That means success rate’s bad and the QBR performance, because everything is stacked against them, is poor. That’s why I would get Justin Fields on the field. Because the worst thing I wanna do is get into third-and-obvious passing situations.”
Those first-down struggles have manifested as bad third-down situations recently. Orlovsky took to X/Twitter to highlight just how bad things have been on third down during the Steelers’ four-game losing streak. He said that the Steelers are facing an average of 8.5 yards to go on third down in their last four games.
The @steelers have averaged 3rd & 8-and-a-half during their 4-game losing streak
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 9, 2025
It’s certainly hard to be a successful offense if you’re consistently facing third and long. That allows pass rushers to pin their ears back. So improving on first down is a great way to help make third downs easier to convert.
But the real question here is would Justin Fields be better on first down than Russell Wilson? Well, let’s take a look at their stats.
On first and 10 this season, Fields attempted 51 passes and carried the ball 16 times. He completed 60.8 percent of his passes and averaged 6.3 yards per attempt. He was sacked four times for a loss of 15 yards. He also averaged 4.7 yards per carry. Wilson attempted 110 passes and 13 carries on first and 10 in 2024. He completed 64.6 percent of his passes and averaged 6.8 yards per attempt. He was sacked eight times, losing 58 yards. He only gained 12 yards on the ground, 0.9 yards per carry.
Overall, Wilson has either dropped back to pass or carried the ball 125 times on first and 10 in 2024 and generated 5.6 yards per play. Fields dropped back or carried the ball 71 times in the same situation and produced 5.4 yards per play.
So would Justin Fields really be an upgrade over Russell Wilson if he was used on first downs? Well, not necessarily on a per-play basis. But he certainly is more effective running the ball, which could lead to some issues for the Ravens.
But former Buffalo Bills QB EJ Manuel raises a concern about inserting Fields just on first downs.
“I like the creativity by having Justin Fields play first down,” Manuel said. “But if that’s the case, then just play Justin Fields the entire football game. Because if you feel like they can’t get a good start on first down, well usually that’s because of the quarterback, which has been Russell Wilson for the last couple of weeks. But I would assume if that’s the plan, you take Justin Fields in there, you give him some opportunities to run the football. I don’t think you go [in]to a playoff game against your rival with packages for this quarterback. You gotta either let him play the full game, ’cause then Russell doesn’t have a rhythm. You try to put Justin in for first down, second and third down, now you expect me, as Russell Wilson, to come in and get us out of a bind?”
And that’s the reality the Steelers face heading into Baltimore. They’ve struggled on first downs and it’s leading to third-down problems. But the solution isn’t cut-and-dried. Do you try to mix things up by integrating Justin Fields on early downs? If you do, does that lead to issues for Russell Wilson like EJ Manuel thinks?
No matter what, this is not where you want to be in January. This is when you want to be hitting your rhythm as a football team, not trying to figure out solutions to fundamental issues on offense.
