Zach Wilson rebounds in a big way
It is probably an overstatement to say this about a training camp practice in July (check that – it definitely is), but Zach Wilson went into last Saturday with a fairly large amount of pressure on his shoulders.
After a contract holdout that kept him off the field for multiple practices, Wilson returned with a dud of a training camp debut that received jeers from non-Jets fans around the NFL.
The negativity in the press was starting to mount a little bit at this point. Coming off of a poorly-received practice and a drawn-out contract saga, Wilson went into Saturday needing to forge a bounceback performance. A tad of extra pressure was applied through the presence of football-starved New York Jets fans and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Wilson rose to the mini-challenge. He received rave reviews from the media and fans in attendance for his play on the practice field.
Fans shared numerous videos of Wilson making highlight-reel throws to newly-added Jets receivers such as Elijah Moore, Corey Davis, and Keelan Cole (Denzel Mims got involved, too). Wilson’s throwing power, accuracy on the move, and quick release all popped off the screen in the viral clips that made their way around social media.
Yes, we are being ridiculous right now. It is early August. To say that a rookie quarterback faced pressure in his second-ever training camp practice is very, very silly. As Allen Iverson once said, we’re talking about practice, man. Not a game. We’re talking about practice.
But that’s simply the nature of the NFL offseason; training camp is the season of overreactions, a glorious time for media and fans alike to overanalyze the minutiae.
Those lucky enough to witness practices in person shall read into every single rep, and fans at home shall make bold declarations based on every little tidbit of information that is shared and every single frame of every video that is posted. These are our rights as NFL observers.
Cool Your Jets podcast episode
All joking aside, it was refreshing for Jets fans to see Wilson quickly shake off the rust, no matter how trivial his training camp performance might be in terms of predictive value. The negative press for Wilson probably would have begun spiraling out of control if he followed up a contract holdout with back-to-back ghastly practices. That (tiny) crisis has been averted.
On the latest episode of the Cool Your Jets podcast, Ben Blessington and Michael Nania react to Wilson’s bounce-back performance while also analyzing the most intriguing details they noticed in the videos that were shared of the Jets’ 11-on-11 scrimmages.
