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Jets are forced to make a QB change after Justin Fields' historic ineptitude

Justin Fields is unplayable.
Justin Fried
Justin Fried

The Jet Press

NY Jets quarterback Justin Fields / Sarah Stier/GettyImages

The New York Jets played a near-flawless game against the Denver Broncos in Week 6. The defense was lights out for the vast majority of Sunday's game. The special teams unit consistently put the Jets in advantageous positions.

The Jets won the turnover battle and finished with just two penalties for 15 yards. It was everything the team had failed to do through the first five weeks of the season in one game. It was the perfect performance.

Except for the quarterback. Justin Fields' performance on Sunday might have been the most inept showing from a Jets quarterback in decades. Yes, more inept than anything Zach Wilson put on tape. More inept than Luke Falk, Trevor Siemian, Bryce Petty, etc.

The entire offense was placed in an untenable situation because of the play of their quarterback, and despite a nearly flawless performance all around, the team still fell short, 13-11. That's how bad the QB was.

The Jets must bench Justin Fields for Tyrod Taylor in Week 7

It's hard to even put into words how incompetent Fields was in this game. The numbers don't come close to telling the story, but the fact that the Jets finished with a whopping -10 net passing yards should paint a bit of the picture.

Fields was sacked nine times in the game; all except for one or two were the direct result of holding onto the ball for an eternity. There were open receivers more often than not. Fields just couldn't see the field.

The Jets essentially ran their offense with three potential options in mind: run the ball with Breece Hall or Isaiah Davis, give Fields a pre-snap read/decision, or ask Fields to make a post-snap decision and pray.

Virtually every single time — and I mean that literally — the Jets asked Fields to make a post-snap decision, it resulted in a negative play, pretty much always a sack. That's why the Jets simply refused to do it for the majority of the game.

The sequence at the end of the first half was proof of this. The Jets determined that asking Fields to do anything was more likely to result in a negative play than to result in points for the team. So they folded their hand. They gave up.

You cannot function as an NFL team with a quarterback performance like that. It's essentially impossible to win a game if Fields plays anywhere close to that level.

The Jets have to make a quarterback change going into Week 6. This coaching staff cannot justifiably face their players in the locker room and tell them Fields is going to remain the starter.

Is Tyrod Taylor the savior? Of course not. But you can grab any quarterback off the street, and the odds are they would be more playable than Fields was in this game.

Change is necessary. It has to happen.

Justin Fried

Justin Fried

Justin Fried is an editor for FanSided who has over seven years of experience covering the NFL and various other sports. A diehard Jets fan since birth, Justin has served as the editor for The Jet Press since 2019, interviewing athletes such as Sauce Gardner, Curtis Martin, LaDainian Tomlinson, Joe Klecko, and many others. Justin has also worked closely with brands like Red Bull to help highlight the niche sectors of the sporting world. His four-part series on the sport of breaking remains one of his proudest pieces of work. In his spare time, Justin is an avid pro wrestling fan who is fortunate enough to have traveled to nearly 30 different countries.