Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever. It’s the speech Shane Falco gave his Washington Sentinels team before coming out on top. Dan Orlovsky’s message to Justin Fields strikes the same tone. Breaking down his game on ESPN Friday, Orlovsky thinks Fields has to be looser.
“See it, trust it and rip it. I want Justin to look at the defense, get through his progressions and get rid of any doubt of what he’s looking at and get the ball out of his hands,” Orlovsky said as he broke down his tape.
He diagrammed several plays to illustrate the point, including his initial third down, a 3rd-and-6 where Fields checked the ball under pressure. Orlovsky walked through the play and noted Fields could’ve ripped the ball over the middle on the deep dig for a would-be first down. Instead, he threw underneath to an incompletion and a punt.
“I just want you to cut the ball loose and throw it. But for some reason he hesitates, doesn’t trust his eyes.”
Orlovsky pushed back on the idea that Fields doesn’t see or is unable to process the routes and concepts. But he didn’t see Fields show the confidence to make the more aggressive play. He certainly has the arm talent to make those plays, but perhaps out of fear of making a mistake, went with the conservative approach.
Orlovsky made the point on a fourth quarter play, Fields hitting a short completion that moved the sticks but passed up hitting TE Connor Heyward over the middle.
“You see those linebackers there? There it is right there,” Orlovsky said. “Trust your eyes and cut that ball loose. But instead of doing that, Justin’s gonna take off, become an athletic runner.”
It’s plays like those that likely set Fields as the backup to begin the season behind Russell Wilson. Fields will have one more opportunity to show improvement in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Detroit Lions. It could be his last chance to see consistent and meaningful quarterback snaps for quite some time, unless and until Wilson gets injured or benched after a stretch of poor play.
Fields has been the aggressor throughout his career, and he’s praised the coaching staff for not over-coaching and letting him play freely. But for Fields to reach his ceiling, he’ll have to know when to take chances like these. He spoke with reporters about the “intent” of the play and knowing when to play it safe and roll the dice. But given these were third downs, Fields had moments to grip and rip it and turned them down.
