Tashaun Gipson has been incredibly impressed with what he has seen from Justin Fields so far this season.
The veteran safety for the Chicago Bears spoke with the media on November 17, and he had some equally revealing and hilarious things to say about the rookie quarterback.
Fields has a reputation for being as evenly-keeled as they come, but according to Gipson, Fields may be in a league of his own in this capacity. “I’ve been around rookie quarterbacks that had to play. I’ve been around first-year starters, man,” Gipson said. “He’s just cool. He’s even keeled, man. He don’t never sweat. … He’ll throw a pick, and he has the same demeanor as when he throws a touchdown, and that’s the type of things that you want in your leader.”
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Gipson on Fields: ‘You Don’t See Defeat on His Face’
Gipson, who is in his 10th year in the NFL, has been around his fair share of quarterbacks young and old, which give his comments about the Bears’ rookie signal-caller quite a bit of weight.
The veteran safety says the 22-year-old QB is already acting like a seasoned pro in a number of ways. “I’ve seen him take some vicious hits,” Gipson said. “He do a little acting. Once he don’t get his call, he gets up. He shake it off, man. He a tough dude, man. Obviously, physically, he can take the punishment of some of the hits. He’s a big guy, but at the same time, just how cool his demeanor is. He’s never wavered.”
Fields has been sacked a league-high 29 times, and he has made his fair share of rookie mistakes, tossing eight interceptions to just four touchdowns. But it’s how Fields responds to those bad plays that has impressed his teammates. “He is himself, man, and he’s never wavered when things are looking bad, when the offense is struggling,” Gipson added.
“You don’t see a look of defeat on his face. And when things are going good, it’s not overexcitement. Guy don’t show emotion sometimes, man. Maybe I’m not around him enough, but you know, at the end of the day, he’s there when it matters, he’s making the plays and he’s taking those huge jumps that this team needs him to do, and you can’t ask for him to do more than he’s been doing the last couple of weeks. It’s like he’s catching his stride.”
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Fields Already Has His Teammates Believing
When Fields led a fourth-quarter scoring drive with less than two minutes to go against the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 9, Gipson revealed what it was like watching that from the Bears sideline. The Bears ultimately lost the game, 29-27, but the rookie QB kept his team in it, and his even-keeled demeanor through it all left an indelible impression.
“That energized everybody,” Gipson revealed. “Seeing a drive like that, you know, obviously, that’s huge for him, that’s huge for his momentum, that’s huge for the team when you can have a quarterback that you know as long as we give him enough time, long as we give him the ball back, we know that good things are gonna happen and that was just one of those things where I just felt confident that whole drive that No. 1 was gonna make a play, that somebody on offense was gonna make a play, and they did just that. That’s just a testament to the growth that he’s making from Week 3 to now and you can’t be more happy about that, man. He’s trending up.”
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Bears Veteran on Justin Fields: ‘Guy Don’t Show Emotion Sometimes, Man’