Wilkerson on facing Pats: 'Every game's a must-win'
Muhammad Wilkerson of the Jets celebrates his fourth-quarter sack against the Buffalo Bills. (Sept. 22, 2013) Credit: Jim McIsaac
Like his head coach, Muhammad Wilkerson still is lamenting the missed opportunities against the Steelers – namely, his near-safety on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But Sunday is a clean slate for the Jets, who will face Tom Brady and the Patriots for the second time this season. But is their Week 7 matchup a must-win for the Jets?
“We always go in every week thinking we’re going to win the game,” Wilkerson said on WFAN. “This is a division game. And I’m not just saying this one is a must win. Every game is a must-win for us. But it just makes it that much more important because it’s a division opponent. That’s a great team, and coming off the loss to Pittsburgh, we can’t go back-to-back losses at home. So we’ve got to definitely make sure we hopefully get this win.”
The third-year defensive end said the Jets (3-3) likely would have a better record had it not been for self-inflicted wounds. “Right now, we’ve got to find ourselves and regroup,” he said, “and get ready for a tough team that’s coming in this week.”
Wilkerson touched on several topics during his weekly radio spot Tuesday, including the defense’s lack of turnovers, the overwhelming crowd noise from Steelers fans and the tough road ahead for the Jets.
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Was there an emotional letdown vs PIT?
“At the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done. There were too many mistakes that we made. We’re not protecting the ball, we’re turning over the ball. And once we get those things corrected, we will start putting more wins in that column than losses.”
