Emergence of Jones gives Steelers options
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Landry Jones (3) plays in the second half Sunday against Arizona.
Pittsburgh’s quarterback Landry Jones (3) celebrates with tight end Matt Spaeth after throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Martavis Bryant during the fourth quarter of their win against Arizona.
PITTSBURGH – Landry Jones’ first career completion went for a touchdown. His final completion in Pittsburgh’s 25-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals went for an 88-yard score that is the longest in the NFL this season.
It was the kind of debut most players can only dream about.
The much-maligned Jones went 8 of 12 for 168 yards and two touchdowns – a passer rating of 149.3 – after entering in the third quarter for injured Mike Vick.
Despite all of that, there’s no guarantee Jones will play for the Steelers (4-2) at Kansas City (1-5) Sunday.
Everything is incumbent on the health of starter Ben Roethlisberger.
“I just still can’t believe I got in the game. I’m still kind of reeling from it,” Jones said. “Next week will be next week. If Ben’s not back, then we’ll see what happens.”
The plan for Roethlisberger, who suffered a sprained knee liagment and bone bruise Sept. 25 in a win at St. Louis, has been to work his way back into practice slowly, testing how his injured knee feels.
Roethlisberger returned to practice last Wednesday, working in 7-on-7 drills. When the Steelers return to practice this week, he’ll test the knee in 11-on-11 play.
The game against the Chiefs will be four weeks from when Roethlisberger suffered his injury, which typically takes four to six weeks to heal.
The NFL Network reported Monday that Vick has a slight tear in a hamstring, an injury that likely means he will not be available this week.
That might be a blessing because Vick struggled mightily in the first half Sunday for the second consecutive week. He completed just 3 of 7 passes for 6 yards against the Cardinals, nearly throwing a pair of interceptions, and leading the Steelers to only three points. It was eerily similar to how he played the previous week at San Diego, when he completed 7 of 13 passes with an interception as the Steelers scored three points in the first half.
The issues with Roethlisberger and Vick could leave the Steelers with no other choice but to give Jones his first NFL start.
It might not be decided until Friday, though Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin would like to know who his quarterback will be, even if he doesn’t want to tip his hand to the Chiefs.
“As quick as I can, but I don’t know what that means. I want complete clarity, but I don’t always get what I want,” Tomlin said. “We’ll go day-by-day and do what we think is appropriate.”
There’s no question which quarterback the players want if Roethlisberger is unable to play.
“We have a lot of faith in Landry,” said wide receiver Markus Wheaton. “We see what he does every day in practice.”
But Tomlin had seen enough of Jones’ preseason work to not feel comfortable with him as Roethlisberger’s replacement, though Jones led the NFL in preseason passing yards with 724. In three preseasons since the Steelers selected Jones in the fourth round of the 2013 draft out of Oklahoma, he completed just 53 percent of 230 passes and had a passer rating of 67.6.
Many questioned whether he should even be on the 53-man roster.
But the differences between Jones and Vick — the latter is the NFL’s all-time rushing leader at the quarterback position – are dramatic.
Vick, 35, was signed Aug. 25. The Steelers had to adjust their offense, not only to take advantage of his scrambling skills but also account for him not having a complete grasp of the playbook.
Because Jones has been with the team for three years, offensive coordinator Todd Haley could use more of the playbook when Jones was in the game.
“Mike Vick is more get-him-out-of-the-pocket and roll out,” said running back Le’Veon Bell. “Our offense had to change a little bit. But when Landry came in, it was kind of like back to our old offense because he knows everything Ben knows. He makes all the checks – he’s been watching Ben for a long time. When he came in, he made the right calls, the right reads and moved the ball.”
That caught the Cardinals by surprise. Most of the time, when a team goes to its third quarterback, it gets conservative. That didn’t happen with Jones.
“They went back to some things,” said Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians. “They threw the ball down the field. He played very well.”
Well enough to get his first career start?
“I don’t know what next week will hold for me,” Jones said. “I’m very thankful that I got in.”
The Steelers placed left tackle Kelvin Beachum on injured reserve Monday and signed offensive tackle Byron Stingily, who was a sixth-round draft pick of Tennessee in 2011. Stingily made nine starts at right tackle for the Titans, including five last year. … Dri Archer ranks eighth in the NFL averaging 25.5 yards per kickoff return. Archer averaged 17.9 yards per return last year before losing the job. … The Steelers are 3-0 against the NFC West.