Justin Fields film study: Ohio State quarterback playing flawless football for Buckeyes

Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields has been nearly perfect through two weeks. 

The Ohio State Buckeyes have been outright dominant as an offense through their first two games. Both Nebraska and Penn State were supposed to be actual competition to the Buckeyes, but oddsmakers and pundits didn’t expect 2019 Heisman candidate Justin Fields to be even better this season than last. That’s exactly what’s happened thus far.

Rattling off Fields’ 594 yards, six passing scores, a 97.2 QBR and 82.4 completion rate certainly does some justice for the dual-threat star. But it doesn’t fully describe how dominant he’s been. The stats look even more impressive upon further review into his film.

His raw stats don’t matter as much as his process, which I track by counting catchable passes and situational effectiveness. I’ve tracked over 70 individuals’ seasons since 2012, and Fields’ data already compares to some of the best prospects we’ve seen in that timeframe. We’ll dissect his start to the season and breakdown how Fields has improved already in his second year with the program.

The baseline for Fields was already almost as good as it gets last year. In terms of data, Fields ranked within the top-10 of all drafted quarterbacks in significant areas such as situational accuracy and throws beyond 10 yards. He’s a dynamic force with his ability to make plays in and outside of the pocket.

Justin Fields has been flawless for Ohio State

There were small things to improve despite the efficiency and gaudy stats. His front leg waned too far forward on deeper attempts and caused the ball to sail on him. He’d also wait too long to pull the trigger on some passing windows, a sign he needed to see a man open before throwing him into space.

Those were reasonable places for growth. While some lauded the athletic but raw Trey Lance this off-season as the potential No. 2 quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft class, Fields was easily in that seat, if not the best prospect over Trevor Lawrence. His upside is insanely high and the floor looks much higher than most.

His performance against Nebraska was almost literally perfect. Taking out any throwaways in all the numbers we’ll use in charting, just one of his attempts fell inaccurate, and that was the above insane back-of-the-endzone touchdown reception. It wasn’t reasonably catchable.

We saw a crisper delivery process result in an assault of throws beyond 10 yards in the opener. Fields nailed all nine attempts on intermediate or deep passes, showing off excellent placement, timing and strength. That continued against Penn State, taking advantage of any little amount of space he could for a passing window.

These throws are devastating to a defense. Giving Fields any amount of time in the pocket has led to these pinpoint throws. He has tremendously talented and speedy receivers that give him great passing windows, but they’re basically being handed the ball on some of these throws. That skill translates to the NFL regardless of the competition.

All eyes were on Fields on Saturday since Lawrence is out with Covid-19, Lance’s team isn’t participating due to Covid concerns, and there’s not another threat to the conversation just yet (lookout for BYU’s Zach Wilson as the class’ third-best quarterback). Fields lit the stage on fire with an almost-flawless performance as the Buckeyes ran the Nittany Lions up and down the field.

The numbers are fantastic for Fields. He missed on just three attempts, throwing an accurate pass on 28-of-31 tries. Only four of his attempts were behind the line of scrimmage, and he was accurate on 10-of-12 throws from 0-10 yards. Two of his four touchdowns came on short attempts.

Going three-of-four on 11-19 throws and four-for-four with two touchdowns beyond 20 yards is incredible efficiency. Penn State continued to bring pressure throughout the night, but Fields had just one sack he could’ve avoided and one interceptable pass. This pass below was left inside and hanging a tad, but was also a terrific play by the defender on the sideline. This is the only bad throw of his season so far.

These mistakes happen when the competition is high and the margin for error is slim. Fields doesn’t regularly make this mistake and has plus-precision on a consistent basis. It’s not a big deal he threw one interceptable pass through two games, and testing tight windows is a good thing in the bigger picture.

His physical traits are obvious as he continued to rain haymakers and deliver big plays for the offense. He’s showing more control of the offense and command of it, something that was absent for much of last year. His first year, understandably, was mostly a talented player within a great scheme.

This year has shown mental mastery of it, and enough confidence to point out to his receivers where to go after the blitz shows itself. Look at the touchdown above and see how he has Jeremy Ruckert attack the space the blitzer will no longer occupy. He manufactured a score on third down.

Hopefully, you were bold enough to get Fields’ Heisman odds at +700 a few weeks ago. That Lawrence will miss the Notre Dame game as well as the Boston College game should mean he won’t win it, and Wilson appears to be the other major threat. If Fields continues to dominate with these playmaking moments, he should win the award.

The Buckeyes don’t see another majorly formidable team until Nov. 21 against Indiana. That gives Fields two weeks to pad more stats against awful defenses in Rutgers and Maryland. There’s been little to criticize, which should terrify Big Ten contenders that hoped to have a shot against these Buckeyes.

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