Jets' Zach Wilson: 'I feel like I'm going in the right direction'

HOUSTON — Zach Wilson will be back leading the Jets’ offense on Sunday, and he will have some big shoes to fill.

The three quarterbacks who ran Mike LaFleur’s system in the four games that Wilson missed with a knee injury moved the football far better and helped put up more points than the rookie quarterback did when he was on the field.

Wilson said he doesn’t feel any pressure in his return against the Texans, though.

"Of course not," he said. "I play my ball. I play ball. Credit to those guys. I was able to learn from their reps and everything they went through. But I got to go in there and play my game and not worry about that stuff."

Wilson somewhat bristled at that notion that he has to prove himself, but if the offense repeatedly stalls, as it did so often when he ran it, he will be further under the microscope.

There is no denying the facts.

In the five full games that Wilson played before suffering a sprained right knee in New England on Oct. 24, the Jets averaged 267 yards of offense — 193 passing — and 13.4 points per game, totaling seven touchdowns. Wilson had four touchdown passes and nine interceptions.

With Mike White, Josh Johnson and Joe Flacco running the show the last four games, the Jets averaged 435.8 yards of offense — 346.5 passing — and 24.5 points per game, scoring 13 touchdowns. Those three totaled 10 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.

Translation: All eyes will be on Wilson even more now.

Robert Saleh doesn’t seem worried about Wilson trying to do too much. Saleh said it can backfire if he does.

"If you’re focused so much on the results, you’re really going to screw it up," he said. "He doesn’t have to do anything the other guys did. He has to do what he can do and trust that if he operates to the best of his ability, we’ll be fine.

"If he’s trying to chase stats and prove that he can move the offense like they can, he’s going to miss the big picture and that’s focus, keep the main thing the main thing, take one play at a time, go through your progressions, get the ball where it needs to go and play football."

If anything happens to Wilson on Sunday, Johnson is expected to be his backup. White and Flacco are on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

As feel-good as the White story was while it lasted, the Jets were always going back to Wilson. They believe he will be the quarterback who leads them into the playoffs and wins games in January and even February. The rest of this season will be about how he grows and develops.

Saleh felt Wilson was ready "to pop off" before he got hurt. Saleh saw him getting more comfortable earlier in the games and hopes that will continue.

Everyone associated with the Jets believes that Wilson will show some different traits in his second act because he got to study what White, Johnson and Flacco did within the system. Wilson said his only goal is to make sure he makes the right decisions for his team.

"I don’t really care what anybody thinks, if I’m being honest," he said. "I want to see improvement in myself.

"When we handle our business, each individual player, the wins will take care of themselves. I got to be able to go in there and grade myself based off of how I’m doing every single play of making the best decision."

After Wilson threw four interceptions in his first 10 pass attempts against New England in Week 2, Saleh stressed that it’s OK for him to play "boring" football. By that he meant don’t force throws, throw it out of bounds to avoid a sack and go to the checkdowns when nothing is there.

White, Johnson and Flacco didn’t do that every time, but they did it far more often than Wilson did. The Jets would like to see more of that from Wilson, but they don’t want to take away some of the things that made him the No. 2 pick in the draft. It’s a balance that Wilson is still trying to find.

"You don’t want Charlie Checkdown," Saleh said. "You don’t want guys that are just going to go for the checkdown every time. One of his super strengths is he can push the ball downfield and get it to any part of the football field at any time. But there is balance.

"For him, just understand that there are different ways to move the offense and to be able to do it in the style that’s best for him."

That’s Wilson’s plan.

"Mentally, I feel like what I’m looking for, what I need to do as a quarterback is heading in the right direction," he said. "Of course, there’s still learning, but I feel like I’m going in the right direction as far as my understanding of the game, what I’m looking for, the ability to just go through the offense, the mindset of just making the best decision every single play for the team and putting those guys first."