Arthur Smith's offense, Justin Fields sputter in preseason debut with Steelers

As far as debuts go, this one was deserving of a mulligan for Arthur Smith, Justin Fields and the Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

With Smith calling the plays for the first time as offensive coordinator and Fields starting at quarterback, the Steelers sputtered for much of the first half in a 20-12 loss Friday night to the Houston Texans in their preseason opener.

Fields completed all but one of his passes in his three series at quarterback, but he was sacked twice to end drives, and he fumbled two times on exchanges with center Nate Herbig.

“The summary of the game is we were just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Fields said.

It wasn’t the kind of performance that will erase the gap that exists between Fields and Russell Wilson, the presumptive starter who did not dress for the exhibition opener. And the offense in general did little in the first half to distinguish itself from the Matt Canada era.

“He and we did some good things,” coach Mike Tomlin said, “but it was just dulled by the negativity.”

The Steelers didn’t mount a drive that reached the red zone until Fields was out of the game. Even then, the offense had nothing to show for it as Kyle Allen threw a pass out of the end zone, missing an open Calvin Austin on fourth-and-goal from the 2.

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Allen’s 6- yard touchdown pass to Connor Heyward with 4 minutes, 31 seconds left in the third quarter pulled the Steelers within 17-6. A bad snap resulted in a missed extra point by Matthew Wright.

Daijun Edwards scored on a 1-yard run with 12:47 left to trim the deficit to 20-12. A 2-point conversion run was short.

The Steelers didn’t convert a third down until the third quarter, going 0 for 5 in the opening half.

“The offense and defense were JV on possession down football,” Tomlin said.

Fields completed 5 of 6 passes for 67 yards. His lone run gained 2 yards, while he was credited with rushing attempts of the two snaps from Herbig that Fields couldn’t corral.

“I thought he did some nice things, but, obviously, he was a component of the C-Q exchange,” Tomlin said. “It negated a lot of good things going on in those first couple drives.”

Herbig played two series before second-round pick Zach Frazier entered. Herbig blamed himself for fumbled snaps.

“That’s my job. I didn’t do a good job of it tonight,” Herbig said. “I’ve got to do better.”

Fields was sacked twice as first-round pick Troy Fautanu had a rough start to his pro career. Fautanu entered on the second series and was beaten by his defender on each sack against Fields. He didn’t return after halftime because of a knee injury.

The offense had five first downs while Fields was in the game. His best pass was a 20-yarder to Van Jefferson on a cross toward the left sideline. He also had completions of 15 and 10 yards to George Pickens.

“I feel like I was in a good rhythm,” Fields said. “I thought we were moving the ball well, but the fumbled snaps, things like that can kill a whole drive.”

The growing pains were on display in the second series when a bobbled snap started it. Fields then ran around the right edge for 2 yards. On third down, he tried to move away from pressure in the pocket only to have Danielle Hunter spin him to the ground for a sack.

Fields led the offense on an eight-play drive on his third series, but it also ended with a sack for a 7-yard loss that took the Steelers out of field goal range.

“Self-inflicted wounds hurt us when I was in the game,” Fields said.

Allen completed 17 of 23 attempts for 193 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The first-team defense was missing five starters. Cornerback Donte Jackson played just one series before departing, and second-year defensive tackle Keeanu Benton left after the first play of the third series with an eye injury.

Jackson’s replacement, Anthony Averett, was on the field when Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud found Tank Dell for a 34-yard touchdown that gave the Texans a 7-0 lead with 6:17 left in the opening quarter.

The touchdown came on third-and-8. Not only did Dell get past Averett in coverage, he ran through a Damontae Kazee arm tackle en route to the end zone.

The mistakes even extended to special teams. Quez Watkins, who got the nod as the punt returner, had a muff in the second quarter that the Texans recovered and turned into another touchdown. The Texans converted a third-and-15 for a first down at the Steelers 4, and Dare Ogunbowale scored on the next play — a 4-yard run — for a 14-0 lead.

The defense also gave up a 10-play drive inside the two-minute warning that resulted in Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 36-yard field goal with 3 seconds left.

Among the positives on defense were six tackles from rookie linebacker Payton Wilson. DeMarvin Leal had a sack and pass deflection.

“Really a sloppy performance,” Tomlin said. “It’s capable of happening in the first preseason game, but it’s not like we find comfort in that. We work too hard to have the results we had tonight, so it’s disappointing.”