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The onus will be on new Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand to make it work with the team’s new QB Justin Fields.
The key to the Jets’ offensive success in 2025 will be play-calling and design.
Just watched a 45-minute video from former NFL QB J.T. O’Sullivan reviewing Fields play quarterbacking the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 20-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers last September.
O’Sullivan produces an outstanding YouTube Channel called “QB School” where he breaks down the QB play of NFL signal-callers and those entering the draft.
Fields had a decent game in this contest, going 25-32 for 245 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Watching the breakdown, O’Sullivan made a lot of salient points, and one thing I noticed were at lot of the throws in the video were on first reads.
The Jets recently posted a video of Fields throwing to Garrett Wilson at Ohio State. All of the throws in this highlight package were first reads.
So if the Jets are going to be successful with Fields at QB, Engstrand is going to have to consistently dial up great first reads. There is no way around it.
O’Sullivan, who consistently praised Fields arm talent, said the QB, “Likes to hit the back foot, one hitch and let it rip.”
The TD throw was a one-read throw on a crossing route to speedster Calvin Austin, who took it in for a 55-yard TD.
Fields also had a rushing TD on a read-option run up the middle where a few defenders bit on the play-fake and ran to the running back, and the QB ran up the middle for an easy TD.
The one pick in that game was a forced first read to wide receiver/running back Corderrelle Patterson that bounced off the defender’s hip into the arms of another defender.
On a third-and-10, there was an out-route to wide receiver George Pickers that was thrown late and gained eight yards. O’Sullivan feels Fields should have thrown the ball early and with more anticipation, which could have helped them get a first down.
And this is something the QB needs to work on – throwing with more anticipation when receivers hit their breaks.
“Anticipation – it’s always been something we haven’t seen on Sundays from Justin Fields,” O’Sullivan said.
While Fields had a solid game here, O’Sullivan was concerned about what would happen later in the season with the approach the Steelers offense was taking in this game.
The Chargers defense, under a first-year coordinator and head coach, seemed to be a little rough around the edges in this game and made a lot of mistakes. They got better as the season progressed.
While the Steelers’ offense was okay, they only scored 20 points.
“Can this continue like this – you are going to see consistently better defenses,” O’Sullivan said. “At some point, you are going to have to score more than they have scoring up to this point.”
This win over the Chargers was in Week 3. In their first two games, the Steelers beat the Atlanta Falcons 18-10 and the Denver Broncos 13-6.
After going 4-2 as a starter to begin the season, Fields was replaced by Russell Wilson because they wanted a little more out of the passing game.
So the lesson learned from this video – the Jets could be okay early in the season with Fields with Engstrand dialing up things the opposing defense has not seen yet, but as the season progresses, it could become harder as the defenses catch up, and get adjusted to the one-read throws and read-option plays the Jets are calling.
The key will be Engstrand constantly coming up with new wrinkles on one-read throws and read options after the early season stretch, when you have a better chance of catching teams off guard.
March 25, 2025
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