Welcome to Steelers Morning Rush, our new daily short-form podcast with Alan Saunders, giving a longer perspective on a single news topic surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers or the National Football League. Today, it’s the rollout of a package of plays for backup quarterback Justin Fields against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night.
Fields played in seven snaps of offense, rushing three times for 26 yards and attempting one pass that was incomplete.
The Steelers’ struggles in the red zone and in short yardage under Russell Wilson have been well documented, so in many ways, a package of plays for Fields made sense.
But the Steelers didn’t use him in those areas, eschewing Fields on a 4th and 1 for a handoff to Jaylen Warren and using Wilson on a two-point conversion to throw a fade route to Cordarrelle Patterson.
The plays they did use Fields were a confused mess, with one procedure penalty and another play where the Steelers barely got the snap off and everyone’s timing was disrupted.
The team can certainly use the talents of a player like Fields, but not in the manner displayed on Thursday night.
Alan breaks it down
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