After another offensive debacle, the calls for Justin Fields' head are getting louder and louder. In the dismal performance, Fields was sacked a whopping nine times, posting a net of minus-10 passing yards, putting him in some truly undesirable company. After the game, one of his New York Jets teammates rushed to his defense.
Speaking to reporters after the game, running back Breece Hall took some of the blame for Fields' disastrous performance, saying, "We knew it was going to be tough sledding, but just got to do a better job of executing. Got to do a better job of giving 7 more time to process and throw the ball. I felt like he got hit too many times and that's got to be better from the O-line and the backs."
While it's certainly a leadership flex from Hall, his defense of Fields isn't based in reality.
Breece Hall's defense of Jets QB Justin Fields is admirable but wrong
On the surface, it's easy to say that nine sacks are the fault of the pass blocking. That goes double when the victim of the pass rush onslaught is as mobile as Justin Fields. As Jets fans have learned from years of watching Zach Wilson run and twirl into sacks, that's not always the case, however.
In Week 6 against the Denver Broncos, the breakdown wasn't all on the pass protection. Fields finished the game with an average time to throw of 3.00, ninth most among all quarterbacks in Week 6 action.
That continues a trend that has been present for the entire season. Among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks, Fields is second in the NFL in average time to throw at 3.22 seconds. His offensive line, led by standout rookie Armand Membou, has consistently given him sufficient time to deliver the ball.
In actuality, sacks can be derived from a bunch of different individual factors or a combination thereof. Aside from the offensive line getting beat, running backs and tight ends can miss assignments such as chips and blitz pickups, as Hall alluded to.
Additionally, receivers failing to get open can be the root cause, either through tight coverage from the defense or the unit lacking the ability to separate, as is the case with the Jets' wideouts not named Garrett Wilson.
But sometimes, it's the quarterback's fault. On Sunday in London, that was often the case with Fields, who at times did have receivers other than Wilson open but looked timid and didn't throw the ball. In key moments, Fields seemed unaware of where the rush was, with his feet unexpectedly stuck in quicksand.
Processing through progressions and quickly identifying open receivers has long been an issue for Fields, and as the average time to throw shows, he was more often than not given a clean pocket for long enough to make a play. He simply failed to do so.
While Fields has the first-round pedigree, he was brought in to be a bridge quarterback, and not some diamond in the rough who could turn into a long-term answer. Sunday's performance was yet another example of why that is true.
This is his fifth year in the league after all, and he's still struggling with the same aspects of the game that gave him fits as a rookie.