Justin Fields' debut in a Steelers uniform saw some positives, but two plays outweighed his overall performance in Friday night's preseason opener.
A pair of fumbled snaps between Fields and center Nate Herbig stalled Pittsburgh's first two drives, disrupting an offense led by a quarterback looking to make an argument for the starting job. Those mistakes were the glaring feature of Fields' debut for head coach Mike Tomlin.
"I thought he did some nice things, but obviously he was a component of the C-Q (center-quarterback) exchange," Tomlin said of Fields' outing, via the team's official website. "From my perspective, that's dual responsibility on the center and the quarterback.
"It negated a lot of good things going on in those first couple of drives."
Fields began the game completing his first two pass attempts to get the chains moving quickly on Pittsburgh's opening drive, but the first fumbled snap, which was recovered, halted any rhythm Fields and Co. started with and led to a punt at midfield.
The second fumble (also recovered) opened Fields' second drive but the Steelers' offensive line issues persisted from there as they allowed a sack two plays later on third down.
"The snapping part, we've just got to be on the same page," Fields said. "I will put that on me to just be on the same page and know who's in at center, know how to adjust and what I need to do next in the game.
"Just can't shoot ourselves in the foot. Have to do the routine things routinely. Q-C exchange. Like I said, I think that's the thing that stopped us when we weren't driving the ball well. It's not a good feeling when you're second-and-13, second-and-14. It's hard to score like that."
Rookie Zach Frazier entered the game for Herbig for Fields' third and final drive of the game. A 20-yard strike from Fields to Van Jefferson got the chains moving again and the rushing attack got the Steelers back to midfield, but another third-down sack led to a third consecutive punt with the fourth-year quarterback at the helm.
Fields finished 5-of-6 passing for 67 yards in three fruitless possessions. The Steelers were unable to score any points in the first half of Friday's preseason loss to the Texans.
"I thought he and we did some good things, but it was just dulled by some of the negativity," Tomlin said.
Tomlin said after the game that Russell Wilson will be available for the Steelers second preseason game against Buffalo. Wilson has been in "pole" position for the starting job since his arrival in Pittsburgh, but a nagging calf injury has limited the presumptive QB1 throughout training camp.
A flawless performance by Fields on Friday might have stoked the flames for a QB controversy in Pittsburgh, but he'll instead be looking to clean up the mistakes that hung over his first outing.
"I think just tighten up the details," Fields said. "I think we're focusing on just controlling what we can control and not shooting ourselves in the foot. It's just a repetitive thing. As long as we do that, put ourselves in great field position and do the routine things routinely, I think we'll be great because other than that, like I said before, just move the ball well. I think we executed well, ran the ball well.
"When we were doing the routine things routinely, of course the ball was moving downfield. So just do that."
