Justin Fields Sets Sights Downfield

Justin Fields could be letting it fly more this week in Tampa, provided he's not running for his life first.

Tampa Bay and coach Todd Bowles love coming after quarterbacks, so any attempt by Fields to look downfield more comes with the possibility he needs the right blocking.

The need to throw downfield more comes not from this Tampa Bay aggressive defensive tendency but from Fields' own decision last week to be excessively safe with the ball.

"Yeah, for sure, that's one thing I talked to (offensive coordinator) Luke (Getsy) and coach (Matt Eberflus) about," Fields said. "I felt like I was a little bit too conservative at times during the game. Definitely with guys like DJ and Chase (Claypool) on the outside, if we do have one-on-one on the outside, potentially throwing it up and seeing what happens.

"With them, they're great playmakers and they can most likely come up with a 50-50 ball. Definitely want to give them more chances deep down the field."

Fields last week was measured by NextGen Stats as possibly the most conservative or cautious passer. It hardly coincided with the way he played last season.

He was 31st in average intended air yards (3.3), 25th in completed air yards (3.3), and in the NextGen formula for aggressiveness with passes Fields ranked dead last in the league. Last year he had been eighth in completed air yards and 10th in intended air yards.

Fields admitted a few plays he wished he had thrown it downfield more when he could have but it depends on getting the right one-on-one matchups.

"But that's how Green Bay's defense is built," Fields said. "Their defense is built for the leads, where they make the quarterback take those checkdowns and make you drive down the field. And that's probably how most defenses are built nowadays in the NFL. They want to protect against explosives, take away the deep plays and stuff like that.

"So of course we want to be able to take calculated shots throughout the game. And when we call those plays, you just got to take 'em up and throw it up there. A receiver might have to make a contested catch to make a big play. But I mean, yeah, their defense is built for that, to make you go and drive down the field."

Tampa Bay's isn't, with it's assortment of blitzes and man-to-man coverages. The Buccaneers were actually somewhat conservative by their standards against Minnesota on Sunday, and were 10th in blitz percentage for the week (28.3%).

It's not always the play calling at fault. Fields can change some plays.

"I would say so, especially if we get certain looks on the defensive side of the ball," he said. "If they present us something to where we talked about it earlier in the week to change it up or stuff like that.

"At the end of the day, you've got to have trust in your OC (offensive coordinator) to call the right plays and if the defense gives you something that you weren't expecting, just work off of that.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to go up to the line of scrimmage and change up the whole play when we talked about why we're running the play in the certain situation. I'm going to read it out. If it's there, it's there. If it's not, then I just work through my progression and make a play."

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