We will find out

The question was asked

I was on Channel 11 on Sunday night to talk about the Jets, and the host, Mark Malusis asked, “Zach Wilson has been up and down all season. Do you believe he is the QB of the future?”

Part of my answer wasn’t rocket science – “We will find a lot don’t the stretch.”

Once again, not exactly biting insight, but I think it kind of sums up the situation.

You have a 6-3 team, with a decent chance to make the playoffs, especially with home games against Chicago, Detroit and Jacksonville coming up.

Mark Cannizzarro had a question today for Robert Saleh that kind of nails the big question right now about the QB entering the stretch run:

“Robert, with regards to Zach (Wilson), when you look at his numbers, he only has a handful of touchdown passes. You guys have had a terrific formula with the defense playing so well and the running game. What is the confidence level, there’s going to be a game, whether it’s this Sunday or whatever where somebody’s going to shut your running game down, maybe your defense is not going to have its A game, where you may need to win a shootout and have Zach sling it around. Can you address what the confidence is to be able to do that with him?”

Great question by Mark!

While the Jets’ defense has been very good recently, and has kept the scores down, there are probably going to be some games, over the course of the last seven games, where they are going to need some more from the QB. It’s going to be hard to win with scores like 20-17 and 16-9 against all their remaining opponents, especially with games in Miami, Buffalo and Minnesota.

Saleh said this, in part, in answering Mark’s question:

“We’re kind of holding him hostage to four, five plays that he had against New England, in my opinion, at least externally,” Saleh said. “Internally, I think everybody’s got a lot of faith in Zach to be able to run this offense and get the ball where it needs to get to and do it in an efficient manner and I do think that if we do need to put it on his back and put it on our receivers backs and put it on the o-line to protect, I think we’re capable of doing that.”

Well, at least three plays of his plays against New England probably cost the Jets the game. Wilson had three picks against a struggling Patriots team, and lost 22-17. This was another game, without a lot of points for Gang Green, and two of the picks led to six points that obviously helped decide the game. And the thing about those picks, is they were all avoidable. Sometimes, defenders make great plays, jump routes, and you tip your hat them, but none of these three picks were of that variety.

But let’s just call that a bad day at the office, and cut Wilson some slack.

However, the bigger question here, and many of us have is – Can Wilson get the Jets in the end zone more, in case there is a shootout or two in the offing? He has four touchdown passes in six starts.

Remember, while the coach feels that people are too focused on New England, I want to go back to something I tweeted on October 23 after the Jets beat Denver – “Nice win for the Jets today in Denver, but moving forward one area of their operation that needs to improve is third down offense. They were 3-14 on third down in Denver, after going 1-11 in Green Bay.”

It’s hard to win consistently with those kinds of numbers of third down.

Wilson was solid in the Jets’ win over Buffalo, but only scored 20 points against a team ravaged in the secondary, and without start middle linebacker Matt Milano.

The bottom line is there will be games down the stretch the Jets need more from the QB. There is no doubt. Let’s see if he can do it.

November 14, 2022

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