It's the same offense. A number of nfl people commented that Zach was the only rookie QB to run the teams full offense last year and unlike Fields and Lawrence he did not need a scaled back version. MLF threw everything at him last year and did not baby him. The problem isn't the offense, the problem is not Zach reading defenses or knowing where to go with the ball, the problem is Zach's mental side. When things go bad he hesitates, his timing goes off, his mechanics fall apart and then everything fall apart. He has the skills, the mechanics, the accuracy and the knowledge to play at a high level like he did against Philly, Jax, TB, Pitt, Miami and Buffalo. The problem is him. I don't know if the mental part can be fixed enough for him to play consistently. Flash plays are great but making the routine plays makes a great QB. He will get another chance but I have to think the odds of him fixing himself mentally is pretty slim.
We're stuck with Milfson for 2 more years--his cap hits are about $10mill per. Now MW is an UFA at the end of the season--what do you think its going to take to sign him? Do we wait until end of season? It's a dilemma.
Wait until the end of the season. If he's really this good and leads us on a deep playoff run, we can always franchise tag him if need be. And given how well he will have fit into this team, it shouldn't be hard to come to terms with him on a fair deal for both sides. Whereas if he's not really this good, we can go shopping for a veteran like Garoppolo or Minshew.
You douche!!!! Just kidding. I think that is a fair question or worry. I think what gives me the confidence in him is I have seen him play well. He is capable. Some QB's are just lost and you know they have no hope. Zach has the talent. He has the arm strength. He has proven that he is actually pretty tough. Despite not playing "great" this season, he is still (5-2) with the 2 losses coming against the Patriots where he had a great half in the first game (until the INT), and despite being terrible in the second game, never made the killer mistake to cost his team. I liked how he played against the Steelers, Packers, Dolphins, and Bills. People credit the defense for most of Zach's wins, but Zach himself also did not make key mistakes to kill his team. He loves football too. Him caring makes me think he will get it right. Finally, he is 23. Just turned 23 this Summer. No way would I give up on a guy that young with that much talent. The concerning parts are like you said: accuracy. I still feel that is fixable, at least to the point he can be a successful QB. The mental part is what hurt him recently. I think Saleh saw this and was forced to sit him down. I am interested in how his teammates truly feel about him. We assume Elijah Moore and Garrett Wilson are not fans, but I am not sure. We know Corey Davis and Braxton Berrios like him. I just wonder are Moore and Wilson's issues just that he can't get them the ball or is he a jerk off the field? That stuff worries me. Leadership is important, especially at QB. Time will tell if he can get it right or not. Many have written him off. I still say it is 50/50. Well said! I agree with that. It can click with him mentally though. It is a game. Once he plays well and gets a feel for it, I think he can become consistent. That is why it is a tough decision for Saleh and the higher ups to let Zach feel it out or to let another QB get a chance to keep the offense stable. They went with Mike White and he delivered. It allows Zach to continue to try to fix his issues, which could benefit him and the team in the long run.
It's tough because I bought into the hype mostly because of Chris Simms (he can be pretty damn convincing) and really wanted to believe in Wilson. I found myself looking for confirmation bias last year and most of this year even when he was failing the eye test and still putting up worst in the league numbers. Hell, I still want him to turn it around and somehow become great because that would be best for the Jets, but realistically I have a better chance at a threesome with Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba with my wife recording it than Wilson becoming a great quarterback. Still, I watched Simms on PFT disagreeing with the Jets benching Wilson, and he is very convincing...Everytime I listen to him talk about Wilson, he gives me hope.
Zach needing to work on his fundamentals, at this level, is deeply concerning. This is a huge hole to dig out of early in his career. Based on the character he's already demonstrated, I'm not sure he has what it takes to come back from this.
I just keep going back to my belief that greatness doesn’t take long to show up… great head coaches don’t outright suck for too long before they start winning…they can lose games early on because they are typically coming to bad teams as new coaches, but they don’t typically take too long to start winning games…Saleh is showing us this today great players at other positions also don’t take too long to show it…shit we have had Sauce, GW and Breece all crushing it pretty much out of the gate I’ll allow that QBs typically take longer to grow, but even then the great ones show it pretty soon…Peyton had like 30 picks or some crazy shit but also had like 30 TDs his rookie year…Brady was a game manager early on but won a Suoerbowl his first year, for more recent examples we can see Mahomes excelled his first year as a starter, albeit he did sit his rookie year, but Herbert and Burrow both showed a lot of promise year one, Josh Allen took a bit longer as he was more raw coming in from a small school and lesser competition but he did show improvement his second year. the problem I have with Zach is we are about 20 or so games into his career and we’ve YET to see a breakout complete game from him where you go MAN THATS WHAT WE GOT! We haven’t had that. We had a fourth quarter at Pitt and a few great throws across various games where you can see the natural talent. But he’s not flashing a great feel or command for the game, and worse, he’s been extremely inaccurate and has not improved at all in that respect. Like AT ALL. He’s STILL in the mid 50% range. And he STILL doesn’t see open receivers. to me both those skills … field vision and accuracy … are KEY traits for a successful QB. Like you will NEVER be a great QB without those two skill sets. he’s FAILED utterly at both. And we’ve seen NO improvement. At first we heard about excuses like small sample size and bad OL and drops and throwaways and all kinds of bullshit. but as the sample size grows and those failings continue without ANY noticeable tangible improvement, coupled with the fact that other QBs look SO much better in the same offense, those excuses start looking more and more like excuses. So while I hope he can somehow figure it out and something clicks for him, I’m not overly optimistic as history is not on his side…most QBs who have been as bad have not been able to turn it around…that doesn’t mean I’m a hater…it’s just my honest assessment. I would LOVE for him to prove me wrong. I just don’t really believe he will.
There's no shame in having supported Zach Wilson. It was in everyone's best interest that he lived up to his #2 slot.
Not sure the purpose behind Cimini's tweet below but I guess as Simms seems to be showing Zach stories still get page hits. As Jet fans I think we have moved on from Zach but the media has not.
Here is something for all of you to add to ZW wows! Elijah Moore and Garrett Wilson have 10 career TD Receptions…only 1 of which was thrown by Zach Wilson. — Evan Roberts (@EvanRobertsWFAN) November 29, 2022
I know it seems like nitpicking, but he goes through all the footwork drill and still flat foot’s the throw.
It's not easy to play QB in the NFL. For everybody who says he's just going through the motions - remember that very few people can actually master every thing that is needed to play QB in the NFL. If it was easy QB salaries would be much lower and there would be a lot of good QB's on the street.
And all that without any rush or downfield coverage - identifying those are his more pressing problems. Call it the mental part of the game if you wish but until he improves there he'll never give himself the time to throw that he needs to properly engage the mechanics. Empty field drills don't feed the bulldog.
Great media session by Zach today. Can't wait for him to get back to QB1. Maybe this actually did help him. We will see when he returns to the field.
