Zach Wilson was a little rusty after a month off, and that’s a direct quote from Jets head coach Robert Saleh, but he was able to get the job done despite a less-than-stellar line in the Jets’ win over Houston on Sunday.
"I feel really good, especially just because I wasn't happy with how I performed, just the ups-and-downs of it all. I got to just keep going,” Wilson said after the game. “This is all part of the process, and we're going to keep getting better. It feels really good to go home having a win. Ultimately that's the goal, is to win the game. I'm really happy we were able to pull it out, and it's awesome to be able to learn from a win."
“He was fine, a little rusty but I thought he managed the game well,” Saleh added. “The offense was running the heck out of the ball and he was good on third down. A good day of managing the game. That drive before the half was huge, and in the second half, he made the plays he needed to make.”
Wilson didn’t have to post gaudy numbers, and nothing about his day – 14 of 24, 145 yards and an interception – screamed franchise quarterback.
But, it was clear that as Saleh hoped, he learned a lot from watching the Jets’ offense run from the outside for the last month.
“There's no excuses, you have to be able to come out and play well," Wilson said. "I've had this whole time to watch and learn from everybody else, and I thought I had my best week of practice. Now I just gotta put it to the field and just get better and understand it's a part of the process. Just have that chip on my shoulder."
“We said the objective was to get him as comfortable in the game as early as we could. When he comes out in the second half he’s usually comfortable with what he’s seen, and we were finally able to get him comfortable on our first TD drive,” Saleh added. “That’s going to be his growing pains, learning to trust his preparation, but as he sees the game, he gets more comfortable and becomes more decisive. As he gets older and gets more reps, he’ll get it. He was seeing the field well in the second half, and that’s definitely something to build off of.”
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Of course, there were times Wilson felt he was playing a little too fast, zipping balls into receivers in situations where a little more finesse may have been the right play.
“My mentality on those is to rip the ball and not play timid, which is why some of those are coming in fast. I have to adjust and I’ll work on that, but I’m trying to play fast,” Wilson said.
Added Saleh: “He throws those little rockets. He’ll figure it all out.”
That fast mentality, though, is what leads Wilson to be able to hit on what Saleh calls “explosives,” big plays like his 46-yard pass to Braxton Berrios and the 22-yard pass to Elijah Moore, arguably the team’s most explosive playmaker right now.
“Those big plays, I told the coaches on the sideline, even though things are rough to keep calling it, we're gonna be good, I'm gonna get into that rhythm, into that flow," Wilson said. "You gotta be able to just hit that reset button, and just say on to the next play. That was the challenge for tonight, how can I keep going and keep pushing through. We got some good plays there, and Elijah made some great catches. We just gotta get that going from the beginning. These guys have shown they can do it. So it's me, I gotta hold myself accountable for the way I start and get those guys going from the beginning."
But as for his one interception, a pass straight into the back of running back Ty Johnson that was picked out of the air?
“I knew it was third and long, and we had slant at the top, but the corner did a good job on Keelan Cole,” Wilson said. “The seas parted, so I figured rather than run it and get blasted or try to slide, I’d just flip it to my check down. I should’ve gotten it out sooner, because Ty was turned around trying to block for me – it’s just one of those unfortunate things where you’re unlucky sometimes.”
The run game helped Wilson a lot more than it hurt him today, and he was happy to have that balanced attack, but he’s also still frustrated with his own performance even in the win.
“I think it’s trusting what I’m seeing, and it’s part of the process. I’m going to keep getting better every week,” Wilson said. “I’m just as frustrated as to why I’m not playing as efficiently as I have played my whole career, but I understand there’s a lot to do. The coaches are seeing that I’m learning and I’m going to hit the reset button every play, and they have trust in me to make the right decisions.”
Eventually, the consistency will come, and as Saleh says, it will come as long as they trust the process.
“Consistency is the truest measure of performance, and there’s a standard that we have to be able to achieve day in and day out, especially being a young team,” Saleh said. “It’s about understanding how to be professional and show up to work and block out the noise, try to find a way to get better every day – and when game day comes, you play your absolute best and trust the result will be in your favor.”
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