Steelers running back Justin Fields continues to be plagued by slow offensive starts

INDIANAPOLIS – When Justin Fields took the first snap of rookie center Zach Frazier on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback stumbled, tripped over Frazier’s feet and fell to the turf.

He quickly turned the ball over to running back Najee Harris, but the Indianapolis Colts defense swallowed him up and the play led to a three-yard loss.

The rest of the first half didn’t go much better for the Steelers offense in the 27-24 loss, their first of the season. Other low points included a failed fourth-down conversion on the second drive and a George Pickens fumble at the goal line in the second quarter that wiped out the team’s most promising drive of the half.

By halftime, the Steelers trailed the Colts, who lost quarterback Anthony Richardson 17-3 in the first quarter, continuing a frustrating and troubling trend of slow starts.

Even though they started 3-0, playing from behind with a late foul was never a sustainable formula for the Steelers, and that became even more apparent on Sunday. For Fields, the key to correcting the early disjointed play is also clear.

“It’s not a pregame routine,” Fields said. “It’s not about doing anything special or drinking a different color of Gatorade. It’s none of that. It’s just about the first play, coming out focused, ready to go.”

“And we didn’t do that in the beginning. As time went on, we got going, but it’s not mystical. It’s an achievement at the end of the day and we didn’t come out with the right intention.”

The offense bounced back with three second-half touchdowns – matching the team’s total number of touchdowns through the first three weeks – but unlike previous performances, the Steelers couldn’t fully dig out of their first-half hole and with leave with a victory.

“I like how the offense fought back, and we knew we shot ourselves in the foot, so it’s kind of the same story,” Fields said. “So we just have to work on that and work on not hurting ourselves and getting off to a faster start and not warming up to things and coming out of the gate hot.”

This was supposed to be the week the Steelers would fix their slow start. They emphasized it in practice, preached it from podiums and in locker rooms.

And yet, when Sunday arrived, the same problem plagued the Steelers for the fourth week in a row.

The offense couldn’t sustain drives. There were self-inflicted wounds, this time in the form of the costly fumble in the red zone. And the run game was completely absent outside of one drive by Cordarrelle Patterson, who retired in the second quarter with an ankle injury.

“I don’t know,” Harris said, asking what caused the slow start. “It’s just that we have to execute on our behalf. They’re going to come out with certain defenses to stop the run. We know we just have to execute. Some teams use different structures to stop it. Some guys have a free hat on certain plans and things like that. We had to see that and take advantage of it. We did better in that in the second half.

The Steelers trailed at halftime in three of their first four games, but the offensive start has been especially slow in the last two games. The Steelers have averaged five points in the first half of the last two games, along with 5.1 yards per play. They also converted just 33% of third downs. But in the second half of those games, the Steelers averaged 17 points, 6.1 yards per play and converted 60% of third downs, according to ESPN Research.

“This is the best team sport there is,” Fields said. “So if we let all 11 guys on the offensive side do their job, we’re not going to be in the position we were in, especially if they get off to a good start. We have to be able to respond that way. Definitely be better on the offensive side of the ball.”

At the same time, the defense has also been slow to warm up the action, being outscored 37-29 in the first half this season. Sunday’s loss got off to a particularly awkward start as Richardson beat Michael Pittman Jr. hit for a 32-yard gain on the first play of the game. From there, the Steelers defense continued to falter, allowing back-to-back touchdown drives to open a game for the first time since a Week 8 loss to the Eagles in 2022. The passing defense also allowed six plays of at least 15 yards. four in the first half. Through the first three weeks, the Steelers had allowed just 12 such plays.

“That was one of our goals to minimize the chunk plays, and we went out there and we just didn’t capitalize — when we were in position, we didn’t make plays on the ball,” safety DeShon Elliott said. . “We have to practice and take that into the match. In my opinion, we have to work a little (harder) in training, but we will be fine.”

Unlike the first three weeks, however, the vaunted Steelers defense was unable to slow down the Colts in the second half and allowed them to convert 53% of their third downs, nearly double the Steelers’ season average allowed . So despite a flawed but electric performance from Fields in the second half with his three touchdowns, the Steelers couldn’t complete the comeback. But if this team wants to have more success this season, they need to find ways to avoid the need for comeback situations.

“The real tangible reasons why we lost this game, man, is on us,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We were sloppy in many ways. You just don’t win football games against motivated groups at their venue who play the way we played today in certain cases.”