Zach Wilson hasn’t looked the part of a star quarterback recently for the New York Jets. But coach Robert Saleh explained Wednesday why he believes in the 23-year-old.
“We’ve still got a lot of faith in Zach and he’s going to continue to have improvement,” Saleh stated. “For sure, you want to see dramatic improvement every week, but the other guys get paid too. So, we’re not wavering on where he is. We think he’s getting a lot better.”
Wilson completed 26 passes and threw for only 231 yards over the past two weeks. He has often been erratic with his throws, a staple of his rookie season in 2021. Last week he made a string of risky decisions with the ball, fortunate not to turn it over against the Denver Broncos. He attempted only one pass of 20 yards or more and it fell incomplete.
“Of course, you want to see your guys taking huge steps, but you really have to sit back and paint the picture of what’s really happening,” Saleh offered.
Zach Wilson has thrown 36.4% of his passes at or behind the LOS the last two weeks, the third-most in the NFL (behind Bailey Zappe and PJ Walker), per TruMedia.#Jets not really attacking downfield, though the Broncos and Packers both did their best to take that option away.
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 24, 2022
To be fair, Saleh is right. The Jets have won each of Zach Wilson’s four starts since he returned from arthroscopic knee surgery. They leaned heavily on the running game and a stout defense as their backbone. But Wilson has done his share as well.
Turnover-prone in his first NFL season, Wilson has not thrown a pick in the past three games. His ability to escape danger when heavily pursued by the Green Bay Packers and Broncos the past two weeks were keys in each victory. He also led a rousing fourth-quarter comeback in a Week 4 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, on point with his passes and decision-making.
“I thought he did a really nice job against Pittsburgh … that was unbelievable pocket presence, getting the ball where it needed to go, really good football,” Saleh said.
Zach Wilson went for the Juke to get the 1st down ✨pic.twitter.com/Au4W0vkDxE
— Jets Nation (@JetsNationCP) October 23, 2022
Zach Wilson has thrown only one touchdown pass in his four starts, that coming against the Steelers. Saleh shrugged that off Wednesday, explaining that Wilson could have had two against the Miami Dolphins in Week 5, but the receiver was tackled at the 1-yard line twice, including on a scintillating 79-yard catch-and-run by Breece Hall.
As for the past two games, Saleh gave Wilson a pass, figuratively.
“Then you look at the last two defenses (Packers and Broncos), they’ve made a lot of really, really good quarterbacks look really bad,” Saleh said. “Zach’s not the first nor the last that’s going to happen to. Those are two really good pass defenses that we’ve played.”
There’s no question Wilson will have to reward his coach’s faith in him beginning this week. Hall is lost for the season with a torn ACL. Veteran receiver Corey Davis may not play because of a knee injury. Elijah Moore has asked for a trade and no one knows what his head space will be moving forward.
The Jets need Zach Wilson to be a difference maker.
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