With Zach Wilson back, Jets' season (and future) starts Sunday

PITTSBURGH — The NFL calendar says it’s Week 4, but the Jets’ season essentially starts now.

Zach Wilson is back from a knee injury and will make his season debut Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Certainly, you don’t discount or dismiss what happened in the first three games or all the work the Jets need to do. Yet the most important thing for them this season — and their future — is Wilson developing and showing that he can be the franchise quarterback the organization has needed for so long.

“Absolutely he can be, and he will be,” receiver Braxton Berrios told Newsday. “He has the drive. He loves the game of football. He studies. There’s no lack of preparation ever with him. And he’s an athlete, man. He can run around, he can make plays, he has a hell of an arm.

“We look to him as a leader. We trust him, he trusts us. Everything about him, it’s why he was the No. 2 pick. It’s why he’s the franchise quarterback. He absolutely has every attribute.”

Robert Saleh repeatedly has said Wilson “is the future.” The Jets are banking on him taking a big jump in Year 2 of his NFL career.

The former BYU star threw nine touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in 13 games as a rookie. His decision-making improved late in the season, and he ended the year without throwing a pick in five straight games.

Wilson had a good offseason of training and gaining strength, digesting the playbook and becoming more familiar with the offense. He also spent time with his playmakers individually and as a group away from the Jets’ facility to build chemistry and a bond that could translate onto the field.

Wilson has been eager to show all of that work, but that was put on hold when he suffered a bone bruise and a torn meniscus in his right knee in an Aug. 12 preseason game in Philadelphia while scrambling for extra yards. He had surgery four days later.

Wilson was cleared this past week and will take the offense back from Joe Flacco, who led the Jets to a 1-2 mark in his absence. “He’s been really anxious to get going for a while now,” said Berrios, Wilson’s close friend. “I’m happy for him and I’m excited.”

Wilson said it’s “the happiest” he’s been in a month. He said he probably will feel “every emotion” and that he’s “super-excited,” but he’s got to control all of that.

“You have to be able to be calm in certain situations,” he said. “I’m sure there’s going to be times when I’ve got to be able to bring myself back down. It’s back to playing ball.”

Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said he knows Wilson is “pumped” and that the coaches will have to try to rein him in a little to keep his emotions in check.

“For sure,” LaFleur said. “We can’t go into Sunday trying to get back all six weeks that he missed. He can’t get it all back in one play, one quarter, one half, one game. Go play your game and make the most of each opportunity that you get and play each play as it is.”

All eyes will be on Wilson, but LaFleur and Saleh stressed that the young quarterback is just one person and that everyone else has to do his part. The Jets’ struggles won’t be fixed by one person.

Now Wilson will start to give a glimpse of what this offense can look like with him running it. General manager Joe Douglas has been building this roster with Wilson as the centerpiece.

“It’s an exciting time for everyone,” Saleh said. “But Zach is a piece of the puzzle. There’s a lot of things that we need to fix, offensively, defensively and special teams. That’s our focus more than anything. Hopefully we can all raise the level of our games and make it a smooth transition.”

The Jets have tried to give Wilson more protection by upgrading the offensive line, although that’s now under construction. They’ll be playing two backup tackles because of injuries. The Jets also gave Wilson more weapons at the skill positions to help him grow and succeed.

The offense is young. Second-year players Wilson, Michael Carter, Elijah Moore and Alijah Vera-Tucker start. Rookies Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson and Max Mitchell either start or play a lot of snaps.

Saleh said with this group growing together, the offense has “the potential to be special.”

Despite how he got hurt, Wilson said he won’t change anything. He’s still going to scramble and try to extend plays with his mobility. The Jets don’t want him to stop doing that, but they’d like him to get rid of the ball sooner, throw it away or slide to avoid taking hits.

The Jets also have to keep Wilson from throwing the ball more than 50 times, which Flacco did twice in three games. That was because of defensive breakdowns and offensive struggles. The Jets have been down by at least 13 points in all three games.

LaFleur could try to establish the run, use the backs on short passes and have Wilson rolling and throwing to the tight end to keep him out of harm’s way and get the offense moving.

Saleh knows there will be some rust and that Wilson will be amped up. He said the quarterback has to feel his way through everything.

This is just the beginning.

“He’s going to be one of the ones that you just got to calm down,” Saleh said. “ . . . It’s an opportunity for him to get out on the football field, and hopefully this is one of many, many, many opportunities to step on the football field for this organization.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.