Steelers gave up on him, shipped him to Week 1 opponent N.Y.
There is an old and reliable cliché that many folks use when they sample various foods. When they try and fail to define what a particular food tastes like, they usually call on the old standby, “tastes like chicken.” From alligator to zebra, when it is plated before you and you have doubts about the taste test, just close your eyes, open your mouth and imagine that the animal that you may be hesitant to try is running around the barnyard covered with feathers and I will guarantee that your taste buds will almost instantly throw out the welcome mat.
Maybe, maybe not.
There is a new cliché that I have coined regarding the past, present, or future performances of Black quarterbacks in the NFL. The new and dandy slogan is: “tastes like failure.” I don’t care what the heck they do, and how they do it, folks are lining up to hitch a ride on their “failure train.” For example, Justin Fields, the ex-Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers and current N.Y. Jets QB, may be the caboose on such a train.
After Mr. Fields was misled, misread, misunderstood and underpaid by the Steelers, the Jets jettisoned him to the Jersey Shore and so far have at least attempted to pay him a fair wage after he suffered through the fiscal fiasco of the Steelers, who in 2024 gave him a one-year deal: paying him as if they rescued him from a second-hand thrift store dumpster after a fire sale.
A writer named Komal wrote an article posted on the website Essentially Sports: “NFL Blackballing Justin Fields-Led Jets as Ex-Steelers QB to Open vs Mike Tomlin Amid Aaron Rodgers Wait.” Komal writes: “Last November, Justin Fields quietly walked off the field at Acrisure Stadium after another frustrating sideline stint. No outburst, no media jabs—just the lingering sting of being benched for Russell Wilson—signed after the ink on his own papers had dried.
Fields is no longer the forgotten QB in Pittsburgh. He’s leading the New York Jets. And in Week 1, he gets the rarest gift in football—a chance at revenge. For the Jets and Fields, the season opener is more than just a football game. It’s a referendum—on Fields’ starting legitimacy, on Glenn’s new system, and on whether the Jets can finally shake off their reputation as perennial underachievers. Even if Rodgers doesn’t sign with Pittsburgh, Week 1 is still a storyline-heavy showdown: a new QB facing the franchise that gave up on him, on a national stage, in a prove-it year.”
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Justin Fields doesn’t need revenge. His revenge is “dead presidents.” Komal also covertly blames Justin Fields for the lack of prime-time games scheduled for the Jets in 2025 writing: “The Jets, who were granted six primetime games in 2024 thanks to Aaron Rodgers‘ presence, have only two this time around.”
According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, the scheduling downgrade says it all. “The Jets are amazing because last year with Aaron Rodgers, six primetime games. This year, two primetime games. So the league is telling us, don’t believe that much in the Jets.”
It is not about the ability or inability of Justin Fields. It is about marketing and money. The Jets have been semi-shunned from the national scheduling spotlight in 2025 only because the sponsors and Las Vegas play a role in determining who the “fanatics” will be viewing on Sunday and Monday nights.
Let’s switch gears for a few moments. This whacky media can make up and create “ghostly” sources and spread the non, non, nonsense without penalty or penance. Remember, just recently when the Steelers negotiations with Aaron Rodgers were not progressing smoothly, the name of the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence was ingested, digested and quickly disposed of in the “journalism outhouse,” post haste.
Trevor Lawrence put a stop to that journalistic rumor mill tomfoolery in a Martian heartbeat. “I have a no-trade clause in my contract, so I would know about it if I was getting traded or if that was something that was going to happen.”
He added: “I’d have to be on board with it —which I’m not. I’m happy here in Jacksonville. I plan on—we want to win a Super Bowl here, and I think we can do that. And I don’t want to leave Jacksonville. So, I’m happy here, obviously. I’m not going to Pittsburgh.”
Hey, wait a minute, if Trevor Lawrence and his agent had no idea what was going on regarding a trade, how could any source know better than them? However, many folks are now living, embracing, and thriving in a culture of lies, rumors, innuendos and slurs, especially in the sports world. Folks running around like imps: making up and concocting stories based upon sources that did not, do not, and will not exist, just because.
Based upon these “Tales from the Crypt,” “Twilight Zone,” garbage collectors disguised as writers, many fans are going to blame Justin Fields for not being able to turn on their electronic devices and see their teams rumbling in prime time. How is the value of an athlete, any athlete watered down in 2025? Just remove the spotlight from them, that’s all. It is a simple formula.
Some players, no matter what their skillset is, may be damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Also, remind them that some athletes may be forced to eat “the crow of injustice.” And if it happens to them, don’t make a big deal out of it because all they will have to do is close their eyes and imagine that it “tastes like chicken.”
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