Three things Justin Fields has to show in his first game with the Jets that will go a long way towards his future in New York

If you've consumed much of the content coming out of New York Jets camp, you would probably think Justin Fields was doomed to fail.

The truth is, much of training camp means absolutely nothing. And to be honest, even preseason means absolutely nothing.

But at least on Saturday night, Justin Fields will be playing a different team, in a live setting, and with a chance to reverse all of the recent noise in New Jersey (oh, and his coach confirmed everyone will be out there).

If he's going to do so, here are the three areas he needs to excel in...

Playing on time

Avoiding sacks is critical for all players. But when you're Justin Fields and said flaw has plagued the majority of your career to this point, the last thing you can do is go into a preseason game of all atmospheres and take a sack. Forget risking injury in a meaningless game, the optics alone would scream he's not prepared.

Instead, Fields needs to look confident and poised. He needs to play within the pocket until the last possible second, at which point he either throws the ball away, or uses what may still be the best set of quarterback wheels in the league when he gets in trouble.

Sacks have to be off-limits in his first impression, however.

Being a leader

Fields has never been one for over-the-top pregame speeches or riling up his teammates before drives. And no one is asking a Zebra to change his stripes here, but being a vocal leader will go a long way in New York.

After all, this is an organization that once again is onto another quarterback, head coach, and general manager. The lofty expectations of prior years with Aaron Rodgers have ceased and now it's about inserting a new culture.

A quarterback who takes command and shows that command repeatedly will go a long way in doing so.

Throwing over the middle

At some point, if Justin Fields is going to stick in the NFL, he's going to have to be comfortable with attacking the middle of the field with his arm. While he took a lot of strides in Pittsburgh last season before his illegitimate benching, he still wasn't throwing over the middle nearly enough.