Steelers center takes the heat for bad snaps

Curt Popejoy

Steelers center takes the heat for bad snaps image

The most memorable parts of Justin Fields’ limited reps on Friday night against the Houston Texans weren’t great. The Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback had two bad center exchanges with Nate Herbig in just three drives.

Fortunately, the Steelers didn’t lose either of the fumbles that were of course credited to Fields in the box score. After the game, Herbig fell on his sword for his quarterback and said in both cases, the fumbles were 100 percent his fault. 

Noble of Herbig to take the blame, especially considering he’s in the midst of a heated position battle with rookie Zach Frazier for the starting job at center. 


The Steelers selected Frazier in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft to replace Mason Cole. Bad snaps was a huge reason why Pittsburgh gave up on Cole and so any leash Herbig might have had as the de facto starter due to tenure, it got a lot shorter after Friday’s debacle.

Curt Popejoy

Curt Popejoy Photo

Curt Popejoy has covered the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL Draft for more than three decades. He's also the managing editor for Steelers Wire and The Draft Wire of the USA Today Sports Media Group.