The New York Jets have little reason to believe in Zach Wilson until proven otherwise
Zach Wilson isn’t the guy.
That is the ugly truth for the New York Jets after their latest loss to the New England Patriots.
At least, that is the ugly truth for now. Wilson still could be the guy. A remote chance remains.
But at this present moment, he is not, and the Jets have no reason to believe he will be. Until Wilson shows drastic progress, he continues to be the number one obstacle standing between the Jets and legitimate Super Bowl contention.
Wilson completed 41% of his passes and netted 44 passing yards in a game where the Jets’ defense allowed 3 points. The woeful outputs from Wilson and the entire Jets offense were the primary reasons New York failed to end its losing streak against New England and seize first place in the AFC East. All the Jets needed from Wilson was 6 points to establish themselves as legitimate threats for the division crown, and he couldn’t get it done.
Upon the first viewing, this may have seemed like a team-wide debacle for the Jets’ offense. And, yes, there certainly were a lot of issues for the offense. The run game was particularly terrible. Let’s not act like Wilson is the only offensive player who performed poorly. Everyone can take some blame when the team scores 3 points.
But when you take a closer look at the game, there are numerous plays on tape that serve as a damning indictment of the quarterback.
Elijah Moore does a good job getting open on the comeback, Wilson is too late on it so Moore runs out of room
Garrett wide open over the middle
All with a great pocket.
Zach Wilson continues to waste the good efforts of his teammates. pic.twitter.com/JAT3eXv5ab
— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) November 21, 2022
Not only did Wilson throw an easy INT here but Conklin was WIDE open. This has to be at least 5 yards of separation. And Wilson airmails the hell out of it.
Wasted opportunity + gift-wrapped turnover all in one
Guys were open in this game. A lot. pic.twitter.com/cHUwkPbVaN
— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) November 21, 2022
Mind-boggling 3rd & 1 botch. Moore wide open on drag. Zach Wilson standing around in a BYU-type clean pocket and doesn't hit it.
Zach Wilson is crushing the New York Jets. pic.twitter.com/QyIrUfqkYR
— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) November 21, 2022
I'm out on Zach Wilson after seeing this one.
Wide. Open. Denzel. Mims. Touchdown. Missed. pic.twitter.com/wd2lxee73G
— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) November 21, 2022
The protection was often solid. Receivers were getting open. Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur drew up some successful concepts. But Wilson continuously failed to capitalize on golden opportunities.
New York is 6-4 with a defense that is arguably playing like the NFL’s best. In all four of the Jets’ losses, their quarterback’s performance was arguably the primary reason they lost.
It is not hard to picture the Jets having 7, 8, or even 9 wins right now if they enjoyed league-average quarterback play this year. That’s how tremendous the supporting cast has looked – and I’m talking about both sides of the ball.
Offensively, the Jets are far from perfect and dealing with a ton of injuries, but as the film shows, they have still been good enough to create a myriad of favorable opportunities for the QB. Joe Flacco botched an incredible percentage of them from Weeks 1-3 and Zach Wilson has been no better.
Wilson is 20 games into his career and he is arguably performing worse than the three young quarterbacks who preceded him in New York: Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, and Mark Sanchez. This is despite having substantially better support than Darnold and Smith.
Through first 20 career games:
– Pass TD:
Darnold: 28
Sanchez: 20
Geno: 16
Wilson: 13– Net yards per pass attempt (which includes sack yards):
Darnold: 5.89
Sanchez: 5.70
Geno: 5.70
Wilson: 4.97– Comp%:
Darnold: 59.7%
Geno: 56.8%
Wilson: 56.2%
Sanchez: 54.2%— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) November 20, 2022
For me, personally, I am no longer sold that Wilson will be the Jets’ franchise quarterback. It could absolutely still happen, although I would be very surprised based on what we have seen to this point. To each his own, but that’s where I stand.
The big question is where the Jets go from here. New York has an opportunity to make some noise in January thanks to a dominant defense and an offense that is teething with untapped potential, which has been wasted by the quarterback position.
How long do the Jets allow Wilson to sink them before they make a change to Mike White? While White is not a very appealing alternative (I am probably one of his biggest detractors), the Jets can only put up with Wilson’s hijinks for so long. Will they really allow him to drag the team all the way out of the playoff race with no repercussions?
On the latest episode of the Cool Your Jets podcast, we react to the Patriots game, break down what we saw from Wilson, and discuss what the Jets should do at the QB position going forward.
