Jets QB Zach Wilson taking every offensive snap rest of season
Zach Wilson of the Jets throws a pass in the first half against the Patriots at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Jets are sticking with Zach Wilson not only for this week but for the remainder of the season.
Robert Saleh said he didn’t consider benching Wilson during his three-interception game against the Patriots on Sunday and replacing him with Mike White. Saleh also said Wilson will take every offensive snap for the rest of the season unless he gets hurt.
“Zach’s our quarterback,” Saleh said during a Zoom news conference Monday.
The Jets won four in a row before their 22-17 loss to New England. In the previous three games, Wilson threw zero touchdown passes and zero interceptions as the running game carried the offense. He struggled against the Patriots when the Jets needed him to make plays, throwing two second-half picks.
Saleh said he still has “full confidence in Zach.” He believes the only way Wilson will improve and work through his mistakes is by playing. There is a delicate balance there, though.
The Jets are 5-3 and in a playoff race. It’s not like last season, when they let the young players get as many reps as possible for developmental purposes. If Wilson’s decision-making doesn’t improve or his penchant for throwing balls into traffic off his back foot instead of throwing them away doesn’t change, he could throw away the Jets’ playoff hopes.
“That’s hypothetical,” Saleh said, defending his quarterback and his decision. “I’m going to go off of the past and that we are 5-3 because he’s done a great job of taking care of the football and getting us in position to win football games, along with good defense, good run game, good special teams. There’s no reason why he can’t continue that.
“The guy’s 4-1 coming back as a starter. He does have a lot to do with that, avoiding all the sacks, being able to throw away the ball, keeping us on track, keeping us on schedule. There’s a lot of things that don’t blow up the stat page, but from a coaching standpoint, there’s a lot of things that he’s done to keep us at least from imploding.
“Zach’s a big part of the reason why we are in this position. Nobody would have had us at five wins at this point to start the season, and Zach’s a big part of that.’’
Saleh acknowledged that Wilson’s “three critical mistakes were back-breaking.” He said Wilson recognizes it and that they talked about it and that it’s time to “hit the reset button.”
All three of the picks came when Wilson was under pressure and on the move. In college, he could make those off-schedule plays often and with relative ease. The NFL is different.
Saleh doesn’t want Wilson to stop altogether, but he still wants him to pick his spots. Saleh went back to saying something that became a big story last season, reiterating that it’s OK to be boring and that Wilson shouldn’t try to do too much, especially when it’s hurting the team.
Wilson has said it gets old just throwing the ball away.
“It’s just one of those things where, yeah, it is boring,” Saleh said. “He does an unbelievable thing of getting out of pressure and finding space and he looks downfield and there’s nothing there — that’s OK. Let’s go live to play another down. Keep the ball in our hands. We’ll play the field- position battle. Our defense is playing really well. We can run the ball. We can do all those things.
“For him, it’s always that simple reminder. It’s OK to be boring and just remember that you got a bunch of guys in that locker room that are pretty good at football too, and they’ve got your back.”
Wilson’s teammates said as much Monday. “Everybody in the building has his back,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “Everybody knows what he’s capable of and he knows what he’s capable of.”
Tight end C.J. Uzomah said Wilson admitted he made a “bonehead decision on this and this.” Uzomah also said Wilson “made some good decisions” and the offense made some mistakes too.
“We as an offense didn’t protect correctly,” Uzomah said. “We didn’t run the right route correctly. It’s our job to make sure he knows it’s not a one-man game, it’s not a one-man team. It’s a collective that we as a unit left plays out there, not just him.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
More Jets
