Justin Fields mostly did his part.
He was nearly flawless in his Jets debut.
Until crunch time, at least.
And he was let down by his teammates in the 34-32 season-opening loss to the Steelers Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
Fields was confident throwing the ball, completing 16-of-22 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown.
And he was slippery when using his legs, rushing for 48 yards and two touchdowns.
After ample concern this summer about Fields, the passing game and the Jets offense as a whole, it was a promising start for him and the unit.
“I don’t think a lot of people expected us to come out like that,” Fields said. “I’m just calling it what it is. [The Steelers] acquired all these guys in the offseason, future Hall of Famers on [defense]. We put up 32 and there were still plays that were left out there. All we gotta do is just keep building, keep getting better and we’ll be good.”
The Jets’ vision for Fields — to use his legs as part of a run-heavy offense — was clear.
His legs put the Jets in a strong position to win.
On third-and-10 with 7:32 left in the game, trailing 31-26, Fields eluded pass rushers and scrambled for 9 yards to the 1-yard line.
Then on fourth-and-1, Fields used a play-action bootleg to waltz untouched into the end zone to give the Jets a 32-31 lead (they failed on the subsequent two-point conversion) with 7:01 left.
It was a lead the defense later squandered.
“I thought he did an outstanding job,” head coach Aaron Glenn said of Fields. “Just from the naked eye, I thought he did a really good job.”
The most notable questionable decision from Fields came on the Jets’ last drive of the game.
On fourth-and-3 with 25 seconds left, Fields threw a pass to Garrett Wilson, who was crushed by Jalen Ramsey as soon as the ball got to him, dislodging the ball.
It looked like Fields could have run for a first down, though that would have put the Jets in a tough spot with the clock and just one timeout.
The Jets gained just a combined 12 yards on their last two drives of the game.
“Probably could’ve gotten the first down, but I just threw it to Garrett,” Fields said. “There’s really not much to explain at the end of the day. He was open.”
In the air, seven of Fields’ 16 completions were to Wilson, his old college teammate at Ohio State.
Wilson finished with 95 yards and a touchdown — which came on a perfectly placed 33-yard pass from Fields down the right sideline in the first quarter.
“That boy was a dog,” Wilson said. “That’s the man I know. He comes out and puts everything on the field every time, every play. He don’t give up on any play, he don’t give up on anything. Stuff like that is inspiring to dudes on the field with him and probably to dudes watching. It felt good to be back out there with Justin.”
There are no moral victories, as Fields said, but he provided plenty of reason for optimism.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
