There’s a lot of dialogue here on how poorly Fields is progressing through reads. How he’s not seeing the play unfold & is missing wide open receivers.
My question for yall is, How is Fields supposed to improve upon seeing plays develop when 70% of the plays he sees developing are screen passes?! Practice makes perfect…how often has fields been given a chance to make these throws?
Let’s be real here. Year 1 we had Nagy putting Fields in an offense for Dalton halfway through the season. Toxic culture, awful O-Line and shit product on the field. Everyone knew the writing on the wall for staff the moment our season ended.
Year 2 Mooney was one of, if not the only receiver rostered who wasn’t cut by the team that drafted him. Fields couldn’t do it through the air (shocker) and made shit happen on the ground. We scored points. Everyone on planet earth agreed that he needs to show an ability to throw.
This year, our game plan is running screens. It has always been running screens. The preseason house calls everyone got excited about? Screens. My guess is training camp/practice are all screens too. How is a man supposed to improve on a skill he isn’t practicing?
I’m disappointed in what we’ve seen. I am also not sold on Justin being our QB, even if I am a fan of him the person. What I know for sure is that Justin is not anywhere near the problem in Chicago. Is he the answer? That’s a different question but the blame isn’t his to shoulder.
Truth be told, none of the meatheads here know anything about his progressions, where his eyes are supposed to go and what the play design is. They’re just parroting what other people say on ESPN, Twitter, etc.
Remember when Mac Jones was supposed to be some super computer processor who always made the right read? He’s fucking terrible and makes some of the worst throws you’ll see. But his ability to go through reads/programs is never under attack because that wasn’t the narrative.
The problem with him right now is he’s dealing with a lot of things at once. There’s the initial play, then he has to identify potential blitzes and coverages. Then he has to go through his reads. But how quick is too quick? Should he stare down route one to lure the coverage away from route two? But what if that guy who he thought was blitzing drops back to where route two is going? Shit, maybe I should just take off? Fuck, here’s a defender in my face.
There are a shitload of variables going on in a QB’s mind when he’s back there. What makes the great ones great is confidence to make that throw AND in their protection. I think Fields is all over the place right now, hence the jittery movement we see back there and apparent indecisiveness.
What he needs is easy half field reads to settle him down, ease him into the game and go from there.
Getsy has called some of those plays. Fields typically does well on the first drive when everything is scripted. It’s after the initial drive that he seems to struggle, so I don’t know that it’s a matter or settling in and getting into a rhythm.
We all know that Getsy hasn’t done Fields any favors with the play calling, but he should be better at the things you mentioned than he is right now.