OT: Justin Fields would like to be coached less

Submitted by kejamder on September 20th, 2023 at 3:01 PM

ESPN link

If there's anything I know about the NFL, it's how successful the players & plays are when they resemble backyard football. Broken plays are dangerous, I guess.

Some good quotes:

  • "My goal this week is just to say F it and go out there and play football how I know to play football"
  • "...so I'm going to say kind of bump all the what I should, this and that, pocket stuff. I'm going to go out there and be me"
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befuggled

September 20th, 2023 at 7:22 PM ^

They made it to the conference championship game in 2010, too, in a game which is best remembered for Jay Cutler sitting on the sidelines after an injury.

Cutler was never a great QB but I did think he was unfairly maligned for this--I think he legitimately hurt his knee. If he'd just gone to the locker room his reputation wouldn't have taken quite the hit.

That game was also the last hurrah for Todd Collins, who had a long career in the best position in the NFL: backup quarterback.

Joined: 07/01/2008

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Buy Bushwood

September 20th, 2023 at 4:49 PM ^

It was obvious he was never going to be a good NFL QB.  He showed no ability in college to 1.  process the secondary quickly and make decisions and 2. make hyper-accurate timing throws.  3.  His delivery is also slow.  These are the 3 most important points for an NFL QB, whereas mobility is perhaps the #1 success rate for a college QB, because it buys you a time for a secondary full of 20 year olds to break down.  It helps in the NFL, but isn't a top trait if you don't have at least 1 and 2.  

Joined: 10/24/2020

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ca_prophet

September 20th, 2023 at 7:01 PM ^

I think he doesn't have the all-everything talent which would let him succeed in a bad situation, but he's got plenty of talent/skills which would get him success in the right situation.  For example, there's a reason SF made the conference championship last year despite being on their 4th QB.  Whatever you might say about Shanahan, he has built an offense that makes it easy to get the ball to their playmakers with room to operate.

In a similar vein, I'm keeping an eye on Kenny Pickett.  He's not nearly as talented as Fields, but I think he'll be given plenty of rope, and he's already got a wideout who looks to be for real.

Joined: 09/07/2010

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Golden section

September 20th, 2023 at 5:29 PM ^

Fields has as much talent as anybody and is probably the best of the OSU QB busts including Stroud.

The the knock on him and why he fell to 9th was that his drop back was too slow and he only threw to his first read.  But at OSU that is all he needed to do. He was throwing to Garrett Wilson, Olave, and Smith-Njigba against college secondaries.

He was almost a victim of their recruiting at wide receiver because now when he saunters back and option 1 isn't available, he's doomed. 

 

Joined: 10/19/2020

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Buy Bushwood

September 21st, 2023 at 7:41 AM ^

Right, he has as much talent as Mahomes?  Laughable.  He's not an accurate passer.  He reads the field slowly and delivers the ball slowly.  Brady generally had his target ready within about 0.5 seconds after the snap.  Fields isn't going to develop that much, because a person's processing speed isn't mutable.  One could easily see that when he was at OSU.  Think about the GOAT cutting up Alabama in the Orange Bowl.  Fields never commanded a game like than because it's not his skillset.  He makes a read or two and then bails.  Now he says he needs to be even more sandlot.  

Stroud is different.  I'm not sure what his ceiling is as far as reading the field, but he clearly processes and gets the ball out faster.  And he is hyper-accurate.  Certain NFL fools got hung up on Fields' NCAA success and his athleticism, neither of which translates much to the NFL at QB.  

Joined: 10/24/2020

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Blau

September 20th, 2023 at 5:08 PM ^

Yeah the title here infers that he's just going rogue and doing what he wants. Sounds like he's talked to the coaching staff and they've agreed to let him, for lack of a better term, play "his" game. 

Issue here is if he does start to improvise, will his teammates be on the same page? The amount of holding, ineligible receiver, and blocking penalties typically go up when plays are extended or broken. The play calls themselves go well beyond just determining where the ball should end up. It can also help determine the snap count, blocking/pass blocking scheme, routes, and tempo. Now if you want to throw all the stuff to the wind, go for it but I'd talk it over with the team first.

Joined: 01/23/2014

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kejamder

September 20th, 2023 at 5:23 PM ^

Call me defensive, but this is not clickbait - that is explicitly what he said to the media. 

  • asked what Fields believes is causing him to overthink in games: "You know, could be coaching, I think"

  • "My goal this week is just to say F it and go out there and play football how I know to play football"

  • [Fields] spoke to the Bears staff about his concerns and felt that coaches were receptive to his diagnosis of what went wrong

  • Coach Matt Eberflus said that he did not feel the Bears were overcoaching Fields

Emphasis is mine, but they are fundamentally on different pages. Even in coachspeak, the coach did not agree with the QB.

Then he realized everybody got a kick out of his comments (taken "out of context") and he wanted to rephrase them: "Just know I need to play better. That's it. Point-blank. That's what it should have been in the first place."

To your points: of course those are the concerns. Sounds like the coach is pretty set on the existing approach but would like him to feel better and play better, not to go off-script.

Joined: 11/05/2016

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coldnjl

September 20th, 2023 at 6:53 PM ^

Somehow, he can be not wrong and wrong at the same time. He was missing wide open reads. If he is thinking too much like he says (blamed on the coaches), doesn't this also suggest he isn't doing enough work to understand how the play develops and how to react to various defenses during the play? 

Joined: 12/31/2009

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lilpenny1316

September 20th, 2023 at 7:15 PM ^

I think it's too early to call Trey Lance a failure. He never started an NFL game with Christian McCaffrey or George Kittle, while Brock Purdy got a health everybody. Trey's only full game last season was in a monsoon in Chicago. I'm not saying he'll be in All-Pro in the right situation, but he got dealt a really crappy hand in San Francisco.

Joined: 11/19/2009

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lhglrkwg

September 20th, 2023 at 3:59 PM ^

I think Stroud might be the one to finally break the OSU QB curse. Coming in as a rookie starter for a bad franchise he's passing at about 64%, over 600 yards, and no picks. That's a promising start for a rookie QB

Let that be a lesson to you OSU QBs- if you never beat Michigan, you too might be a decent NFL QB. Make the right choice

Joined: 07/03/2008

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canzior

September 20th, 2023 at 4:17 PM ^

I don't think it's just he team though, even though a lot of OSU fans keep saying it. He just doesn't seem to have it between the ears. There's a stark difference between him and Hurts or Jackson as far as having the running ability but still making the right read,, on time.

Stroud in his first few games, the speed was definitely getting to him. He's also got a horrible offensive line. Don't think he's going to be great per se, but he could still play awhile.

Joined: 05/28/2010

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Solecismic

September 20th, 2023 at 6:23 PM ^

I'm on the Stroud bandwagon as well. I think Carolina should have taken him. OSU didn't need everything he could do because receivers always had a step on someone. Then he had his game against Michigan, which made it easy to push him behind Bryce.

Fields, on the other hand... if the Bears weren't such a mess they would have dropped him last season. Then again, if they weren't such a mess they wouldn't have taken him in the first place.

In a couple of years, he and Kyler Murray can do a podcast about how quarterbacks don't need playbooks and coaching and film while the league moves on. Ryan Leaf could guest and talk about leadership and teamwork.

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pescadero

September 21st, 2023 at 7:33 AM ^

Drafting QBs - from anywhere - is basically a complete and utter crapshoot. Just rolling the dice.

 

The only QB draft pick that historically succeeds at higher than 50% is the #1 pick. Not 1st round pick. #1.

Overall - 1st round QB's succeed at less than a 50% rate. The numbers for later rounds are even more abysmal.

 

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