When the Steelers made the decision to insert Russell Wilson as their starting quarterback, they left the door open for Justin Fields to have a set of plays that allowed him to continue to be a part of the offense.
Fields did not play in Week 7 against the Jets and a hamstring injury kept him off the active roster in Week 8. Fields lined up last week but didn’t take any snaps, so it remains to be seen if the Steelers really have something up their sleeve or if they just want their opponents to think this could be an option.
Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith didn’t address that issue Thursday, but he left the Fields option on the table when he spoke with reporters Thursday.
“He will be ready to go there when we need it” Smith said, via Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com. “Maybe it will be this Sunday, maybe it will be next Sunday. I’m very confident when we announce it, it will make a difference.”
The Steelers have won all three games Wilson started and the offense has had success in each of those games, so there hasn’t been much of a need for a change of pace. We’ll see if that changes with first place in the AFC North on the line this weekend.