Saunders: Steelers Need to Either Trust Justin Fields or Replace Him
The Pittsburgh Steelers either need to trust Justin Fields and turn him loose or replace him with Russell Wilson.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have a problem on offense.
To be more specific, they have nearly innumerable problems with their offense.
Their banged up and inexperienced offensive line has more holes than plugs, and while Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick and Broderick Jones should be expected to get better as the season goes on, the unit right now is not doing a very good job of opening up holes in the running game or protecting the quarterback.
Najee Harris has not at any point in his NFL career been the kind of running back that can overcome a lack of blocking up front. When the line blocks it, Harris can get into the secondary, where he uses his size/speed combination and violent stiff arm to turn medium gains into big ones.
When there’s not much running room, he doesn’t have the wiggle to create something out of nothing. With Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson injured it’s been just up to Harris, and despite his status as a former first-round pick, he just hasn’t been good enough.
George Pickens is a walking distraction, from his face paint message, to jogging through routes, to pouting on the sideline, to throwing his helmet to getting into it with Dallas players. Pickens is incredibly talented. He’s also making it very clear he’s not the kind of player that you can win with.
The Steelers have found a way to make Justin Fields boring. That has led to the best five-game stretch of Fields career. This being the best stretch is not a compliment to the rest of it. Fields embodies the big problem with the Steelers offense. The coaching staff is not necessarily asking them to do a lot right now, and they’re still not doing it well.
The biggest issue with the Steelers offense is that its own coaching staff clearly does not trust it to be any good. That has been made obvious with conservative game plans to start five consecutive games.
It was especially displayed on Sunday when Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith chose to run on third and long in field goal range on the game’s opening drive, and then kicked a field goal on 4th and 2 anyway.
It was made crystal clear when, with less than 30 seconds left, Tomlin called his final timeout on defense to try to get the fourth down play right instead of saving it for the offense.
“No hesitation about that,” Tomlin said. “We had an opportunity to win that game right there. Forget what comes after.”
The lack of faith is probably deserved. The offense is 24th in scoring, 23rd in yards, 27th in passing and 13th in rushing. The only thing they seem like they might be great at is keeping the defense off the field. They’re tied for fourth in time of possession per offensive drive.
Fields is not a rookie. He’s a fourth-year pro. For most of his three seasons in Chicago, operated as an unbroken wild stallion, committing turnovers willy-nilly and racking up losses while also lighting up highlight reels.
The Steelers have punt blinders on him. It’s gone OK so far. But it’s clear they don’t really trust him, either. That just can’t continue.
Fields has things he can improve upon. He’s been more accurate, but there is still work to be done in that area. He’s cut down the turnovers, but still has been far from perfect in decision making. Given enough time, maybe he could earn that trust. But that’s not that likely. Fields is probably who he’s been. The Steelers are probably getting more out of him that they should be by severely limiting how much he’s been able to do. The horse with blinders on is wearing them for a reason.
Meanwhile, Russell Wilson is nearing his return from injury. He is scheduled to be a full participant in practice on Wednesday. If all goes well, he could play this Sunday in Las Vegas. If not this week, he will certainly be ready next week.
Wilson and Fields played alongside one another all spring and summer. The Steelers came to the conclusion, even after he was injured the first time, that Wilson was the better of the two. I thought the same.
But at the end of the day, it won’t matter as much if Wilson is actually that much better if the Steelers simply trust him more. The players aren’t all that far apart, one way or the other.
If a change from Fields to Wilson yields a more aggressive offense and engenders more trust from the coaching staff that it can be a part of the winning formula and not just a unit that the defense drags to mediocrity, that will be a huge win for the team.
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