The Pittsburgh Steelers are in first place in the AFC North with an 8-3 record.
They are coming off a 24-19 loss on Thursday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns, ending a five-game winning streak.
Russell Wilson started each of the last five games. Justin Fields started the first six games of the season while Wilson had a calf injury.
Fields went 4-2 in his six starts. Wilson is 4-1 in his five starts.
After a bad loss on Thursday Night Football, there are questions around Arthur Smith and a CBS Sports reporter thinks the Steelers could go back to Justin Fields.
Jason La Canfora says some in the Steelers organization feel Arthur Smith could be doing more.
CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala thinks it is within the realm of possibility the Steelers could go back to starting Fields.
Below, we will discuss whether Arthur Smith could be doing a better job and whether the Steelers will return to starting Justin Fields.
Arthur Smith Needs To Improve Red Zone Offense Drastically
Arthur Smith’s play calling has been significantly better than Matt Canada’s. Let’s get that out of the way.
Pittsburgh is moving the ball and driving down the field.
Wilson has over 260 passing yards in three of five starts this season. In Wilson’s first three starts, the Steelers scored 26 or more points in each game.
The last two games have been against AFC North opponents, typically lower-scoring. The Steelers failed to score over 20 points in each game.
However, where the Steelers are struggling is in the red zone and scoring TDs.
While speaking on 93.7 radio in Pittsburgh, La Canfora stated, “I think there’s a sense that they could be orchestrating at a higher level than it is and that’s not exonerating the Quarterback play. I’m not telling you they’ve got the best offensive roster in the world but didn’t seem like he was ready to adapt to the way that game was playing out and who was looking better in that game based on the snow and the Browns being fired up as they were and Myles Garrett pretty much eating their tackles for lunch.”
La Canfora continued “I think they feel like more could be done, yeah. Like, hey man, let’s try to reassess what we’re doing in game and how quickly maybe we’re ready to deviate from how we thought this was going to go. You know what I mean? Or what we thought the script was gonna be to what’s actually gonna work in this situation.”
These are fair points. The coaching staff, including Mike Tomlin, which nobody ever seems to want to blame are at fault for their loss in week 13.
Tomlin is just as much to blame as Arthur Smith, if not more for their loss against Cleveland.
There is no denying the Steelers need to drastically fix their red zone offense as soon as possible as they keep settling for field goals. Pittsburgh is 30th in red zone scoring percentage (TD only).
As for moving the ball, getting first downs, and calling the right plays, Smith is doing a good job. However, the red zone problems need to be corrected sooner rather than later.
Will The Steelers Go Back To Starting Justin Fields?
CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala thinks it is within the realm of possibility the Steelers could go back to starting Fields.
While speaking on the Ultimate Cleveland Show, Kinkhabwala said “I think it’s totally within the realm of possibility that Justin Fields goes back to being the Steelers starter. This Steelers’ offense has a lot of warts that have been kind of covered up the last few weeks because of Chris Boswell, their kicker, who is as money as they come. And because of this defense. But they have been absolutely horrific in the red zone. Russell Wilson is once again taking terrible, terrible, terrible sacks.”
She continued “Justin Fields was being played within certain parameters. He was being constrained. He followed what was asked of him. Never did anything more. But that team felt he was getting better every single week. They were putting more and more on his table every week.”
“If your quarterback continued to take really, really bad sacks, you’ve got to assess once again,” Kinkhabwala stated.
While Wilson has taken some bad sacks, before facing two AFC North teams, the Steelers scored 26+ points in each of Wilson’s starts. His last two games have been forgetful but it is not like Fields would have performed much better.
Fields threw for under 160 passing yards in four of six starts. If this was by design, it was because the Steelers did not trust his arm, which is why he was being constrained.
Pittsburgh is throwing the ball more with Wilson under center.
It was not like Fields wasn’t taking sacks either. He was sacked two or more times in each of his six starts. The offensive line is not helping the QB.
With Fields under center, the Steelers scored 20 or fewer points in four of six starts. The passing game was non-existent.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini said it is expected Wilson stays with the Steelers after the season, making it even more unlikely Pittsburgh goes back to Fields.
Mike Tomlin decided to start Russell Wilson after Fields went 4-2 as the starter. Tomlin will not go back on his decision.
