'Sometimes another man has to step up': Tony Fields II has his moment in Browns win

HOUSTON – Tony Fields II's number of snaps as an NFL linebacker coming into the season was about as many as your average person's.

That is, zero.

The second-year pro had spent most of his Browns' career, when injuries weren't keeping him on the sideline, on special teams. It was a role Fields was perfectly content in playing and relishing.

"Special teams, to me, it's very key to the game," Fields said during the preseason. "You can win games on special teams. I feel like a player on special teams has to have a couple screws missing. To want to run down on kickoff, to want to block somebody running full speed down the field, we've got to have a couple of screws missing."

Fields, though, always wanted a chance to get actual defensive snaps. Those snaps started to come, with one here or one there, when injuries initially started to shave off the top of the Browns' linebacking corps.

As that group, though, has taken on even more injuries since the bye week, Fields' snaps have increased substantially. There were 10 snaps against Miami and 26 against Buffalo, although it dropped to 16 against Tampa Bay.

On Sunday against Houston, though, it all came together for Fields. Not just in playing time, but also productivity.

"It's all about staying ready when your number's called," Fields told the Beacon Journal after the Browns' 27-14 win over the Texans. "I mean, NFL is, you don't know, this next-man-up league. So I mean, I was ready. I was always in my playbook. I was always showing up every day consistently ready to work and working my hardest and it showed."

Fields played a career-high 33 snaps on defense, accounting for 51% of the snaps on that side of the ball. What he did in those snaps helped the Browns keep momentum on their side for the possibility of a late-season surge.

His first big play came early in the second half, when he knifed through to knock the ball loose from Houston quarterback Kyle Allen. The fumble was picked up by Fields' teammate, Denzel Ward, who returned it 4 yards for a touchdown to give the Browns a 14-5 lead.

The second came in the fourth quarter, this time with Fields being the beneficiary of another's play. Defensive end Chase Winovich deflected an Allen pass into the air, and Fields picked it off in the air and returned it 16 yards for his first career interception return touchdown.

"Every game is about playing complementary football," Fields said. "Sometimes another man has to step up, next man up, and today was my day. I took that chance.”

Fields may be getting even more chances. That's because, on Fields' third big play of the day, the Browns sustained yet another injury to a linebacker.

With just under six minutes remaining in the game, the Browns punted and, after Texans return man Desmond King II coughed up the ball, Fields recovered the fumble. However, during the play, starting middle linebacker Sione Takitaki sustained a season-ending torn ACL.

"My whole life I've been trying to be a leader as far as being on a football field," Fields said. "So I've been learning from Taki. Taki's been the leader of the room and everything like that. He's been carrying us along. He's been carrying me under his wing a lot. So I feel like the thing that Taki taught me and being around him and guys like (Anthony Walker Jr.) and things like that, I feel like I can step up a little bit when I need to, if things need to be said. But all in all, our linebacker room, we're pretty mature. We have guys that, we're all about ball, so I don't think it's gonna be too bad or anything like that."

The other linebackers in the room would agree with that sentiment. Then again, some of them didn't view Fields as just some special-teamer or undersized reserve.

Those teammates weren't surprised at all by what Fields showed once he was given a chance. Nor will they be surprised by anything else he shows over the next several weeks.

“I knew when me and Tone came in that he was going to be a guy who took off at some point by just the way that he played in college," linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah said Monday. "I thought he played pretty similar to me on his tape with his aggression and his ability to get from Point A to Point B and just being instinctive. He has shown that the last two games and really all season on special teams doing his thing. I am looking forward to seeing what comes out of that. I really am.”

Fields has played, in his own words, "weak, strong, everywhere" this season within the linebacker rotation. While at West Virginia, though, he was almost exclusively a middle linebacker.

The Browns currently also have former Pro Bowler Deion Jones, who they acquired from the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 9, and another special-team star-turned-linebacker rotational piece, Jordan Kunsazyk, who can play middle linebacker. Fields, as has been his way, will be ready if called upon.

"If they need me to play it, I'll play it," Fields said.

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Tony Fields II has his moment to help Cleveland Browns beat Texans