**OFFICAIL** Regular Season News & Scheisse - FTO : THREAD DERAILING PROHIBITED***

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MikeDitkaPolishSausage

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noprophet

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BaBaBlacksheep said:
www.espn.com

Let's sound the alarm on the NFL's sophomore quarterbacks: Where each have disappointed this season

Through eight weeks, the passers from the class of 2021 have been a major disappointment, with few signs that they'll turn things around.
www.espn.com www.espn.com



Anyone have ESPN+ ?

Would be curious about what they say on Fields
Click to expand...

Justin Fields, Chicago Bears​

Pick in 2021 draft: No. 11

If you saw the game plan against the Patriots in Week 7, you saw a prototype for what the Bears would like to do on offense with their second-year quarterback. Fields was devastating on scrambles, had several designed runs for big gains and worked a heavy dosage of boot concepts and rollouts. When he uses a play-fake and gets outside the pocket, his QBR is a respectable 22nd in the league. He also ranks second in the league among all players in rushing EPA, trailing only Lamar Jackson. Fields' 11 rushing first downs over expectation is the third-best mark.

The problem is just about everything else. In virtually every situation, Fields is completing way fewer passes than we would expect. Remember a minute ago, when I mentioned that Jones' CPOE was behind everyone but Fields? Jones is at minus-8.6% and Fields is at minus-17.2%. His 46.1% adjusted completion percentage on quick game is the worst for any quarterback in the first eight weeks of the season over the past decade.

What about play-action, which should be a focal point of this offense given the running game? It's not great here, either. Fields ranks 33rd out of 35 quarterbacks in both CPOE and adjusted completion percentage. He is hitting big shots when he does connect on play-action -- his 12.9 yards per completion rank 11th in the league -- but he's not hitting those throws often.

The only quarterback with a worse overall adjusted completion percentage is Mayfield, who was benched and probably helped get his coach fired. Fields' off-target rate on the whole is 20.8%, which ranks behind every starting quarterback besides Davis Mills (21%).​


Accuracy hasn't been great, but Fields' biggest problem has been taking sacks. He was sacked four times on 27 dropbacks by the Cowboys on Sunday, and that actually somehow improved his sack rate. He has now been sacked on 13.6% of his dropbacks this season. No other regular quarterback is above 10%. The last time a quarterback posted a sack rate that ugly over the first half of the season was in 2006, when Andrew Walter went down on 15.6% of his dropbacks for the Raiders. Before Walter, the leader was two different seasons from David Carr, who was battered and bruised for the Texans.

Carr wasn't the same quarterback after he spent time with the Texans and became acutely aware of the likelihood that he would be running for his life. Fields is more comfortable running and hasn't exhibited the same sort of panic, but there have to be concerns that he'll develop bad habits. Quarterbacks can't survive if they're looking down at the pass rush and bailing at the first sign of danger, and that's inevitable when you're getting sacked as often as him.

Fields doesn't have a great offensive line, as the Bears started with a subpar unit on paper and then dealt with injuries. The evidence, though, suggests it isn't to blame for many of these takedowns. By ESPN's pass block win rate metric, the Bears have the league's third-best pass-blocking unit, a number that I will admit shocked me. I'm not sure I'm quite as optimistic as our automated analysis suggests, but it is a reminder that he isn't getting sacked in hopeless situations all the time.

Instead, Fields is taking sacks after scrambling, or while trying to extend plays or in situations where he should be throwing the ball away. I don't think his sacks in the Cowboys game fit into that category, but he had one classic example in the Patriots game the prior week. Some of those are scrambles that end with him running out of bounds for no gain or a short loss, but he is being hit on 42.1% of his dropbacks, which is the most of any quarterback and more than double the league average.

All the hits and pressure lead to mistakes. Fields is throwing interceptions on 3.8% of his passes, which is the fourth-worst mark in football. He also has fumbled 11 times, which is tied for the league lead alongside Matt Ryan. Lost in the (rightful) praise about Fields' performance against the Patriots in Week 7 is the fact that he fumbled four times. The Bears luckily recovered those and the other two bouncing footballs in the game, which played a huge role in their victory. Fumble recovery rates are random from week-to-week and year-to-year, and as we saw Sunday, bad things can happen when the other team recovers the football. Micah Parsons fell on a football and took it to the house for a score.

​

Obviously, we know Fields doesn't have great talent around him, either up front or at receiver. Coordinator Luke Getsy and the Bears' staff have been able to build a successful rushing attack around the trio of Fields, David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert -- a much-needed pleasant surprise for the offense -- but the passing game has looked utterly hopeless for stretches.

The thing that's still so obvious watching Fields is how and when he's at his best. When he is left to rely on his physical tools and his instincts, he looks great. As a scrambler and working off scramble drills, he can look like the best player on the field. While great scramblers like Allen and Jackson have their own styles, Fields just glides up the field for big gains when given the opportunity. Under pressure, he's capable of making magic happen.

When Fields is forced to work within the confines of his offensive structure, he hasn't been anywhere near as impressive. This wasn't the case at Ohio State, and it's likely more a product of the talent around him and the limitations of the offenses so far than it is about his capabilities of working within a successful NFL scheme.


For Fields, more than any other passer, 2022 is about survival. There's cap space waiting next season, as the Bears are essentially using this season to reset and rebuild after the Ryan Pace era. If Fields can stay healthy and not get trapped into too many negative habits, there's going to be a better offensive line and receiving corps around him next season. Given how frequently he's getting hit, I'm just worried he makes it to 2023 in one piece.
 

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BaBaBlacksheep said:
www.espn.com

Let's sound the alarm on the NFL's sophomore quarterbacks: Where each have disappointed this season

Through eight weeks, the passers from the class of 2021 have been a major disappointment, with few signs that they'll turn things around.
www.espn.com www.espn.com



Anyone have ESPN+ ?

Would be curious about what they say on Fields
Click to expand...

If you download ESPN app on your phone and make an account, you automatically get all the articles including ESPN+ I think. I haven’t paid a cent.
 
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