Steelers quarterback Justin Fields and center Nate Herbig have been working together throughout training camp, but it didn’t look that way when they took the field for Friday night’s preseason opener.
Fields and Herbig botched two snaps in the team’s first seven offensive plays against the Texans. They didn’t lose either fumble, but they cost the Steelers chances to run plays and head coach Mike Tomlin said that they mitigated any positives he saw from Fields in his three series of work.
“I thought he did some nice things,” Tomlin said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com. “But obviously he was a component of the C-Q exchange, and 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 was 5-of-6 for 67 yards and he ran three times for two yards while also taking two snaps and failing to lead the Steelers to points before exiting the game. Russell Wilson’s return from a calf injury has been progressing and full participation would mean a move back to the second team for Fields in the near future.