In a dropping effort towards the Steelers, Justin Fields performed very good soccer.
However the Jets nonetheless got here up quick throughout the 34-32 loss to Pittsburgh in Week 1.
Not solely did he use his legs, however Fields was additionally environment friendly within the passing recreation.
Throughout the preseason, Fields was criticized for his uneven practices and for at occasions not throwing the ball down the sphere, and Jets coach Aaron Glenn was fast to remind the media about that on Monday morning.
“Well, guys, that’s who he is,” Glenn mentioned about Fields. “I imply, I feel every certainly one of you guys have been dogging all of them via the preseason about what he can’t do, and I feel he’s simply confirmed what he can do.
“So, we’re all going to say this, that, you know, there are some things that he could have done better and obviously he’s going to feel the same way. But, man, this is a step-by-step process, and we know that he’s not done with his progression as far as getting better. So the only thing that we’re looking at is just continue to be efficient, continue to be yourself, and don’t let any outside noise try to distract you from what you can be.”
All through coaching camp and the preseason, there have been loads of causes to be involved with Fields and the passing recreation. He struggled throughout his two joint practices towards the Giants. Fields additionally had extra dashing yards than passing throughout his closing preseason recreation towards Large Blue.
However none of that issues now after Fields accomplished 16-of-22 passes for 218 yards with a landing go towards Pittsburgh. He additionally used his legs to evade the Steelers’ go rushers after dashing for 48 yards and registering two scores.
Fields had struggled with accuracy all through his profession with the Bears and Steelers earlier than signing a two-year, $40 million contract with the Jets final offseason. He accomplished 72.7% of his passes towards the Steelers.
The Jets need Fields to be the catalyst for his or her pass-heavy offense and he actually was towards the Steelers. Fields did one thing in his first Jets recreation that that they had solely finished as soon as with former quarterback Aaron Rodgers: registered 32 factors. He led the Jets to 4 consecutive scoring drives earlier than halftime.
“I’ve said this on a number of times, I just want our quarterback to be efficient,” Glenn mentioned. “And he went out and he did that. Pay attention, with him within the run recreation, the best way that he runs the learn choice recreation and he decides on holding the ball. I believed he was excellent on that.
“I mean, some of these throws that he got out to the pocket and he set himself up, got a shoulder square and delivered the ball, I thought it was outstanding. And to me, those are things that he continued to improve on. And he’s going to continue to improve on those things. So this is just the first game. I expect him to continue to get better at that.”
The Jets’ offensive line, which was a central query getting into the sport, actually aided Fields’ efficiency. After having the fewest dashing makes an attempt within the NFL final season, the Jets ran for 182 yards and averaged 4.7 per try.
Jets proper guard Alijah Vera-Tucker was positioned on injured reserve after he was dominated out for the season after he tore his triceps throughout follow. That compelled them to maneuver Joe Tippmann, who was the Jets’ beginning middle for the earlier two seasons, to proper guard and insert Josh Myers at middle.
Even with out Vera-Tucker, the Jets put their bodily run offense on show. Breece Corridor rushed for 107 dashing yards, which was his first 100-yard recreation since final October towards the Payments.
“I mean, this is the O-Line that really wants to show their physicality, understand exactly who they are,” Glenn mentioned. “You’ve received to offer Moug [Darren Mougey] and our scouting workers a whole lot of credit score as a result of pay attention, AVT goes down and we put [Josh] Myers in, Tippmann goes over to proper guard and right here we go.
“You know, those guys, they didn’t blink, not one bit. And that shows a lot, you know, from what we’ve been trying to create, you know, all through training camp, of listen, one guy’s going to go down, it’s not going to stop this train of what we’re trying to do.”
