What you and those who doubt Zach keep glossing over is that his first two years were a blueprint of how NOT to develop a young QB. LaFleur even admitted it at the end of last season. They ignored his strengths and tried to make him something he's not, and to his credit he didn't bitch and tried to do that, but it was always just trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, meanwhile asking him to carry the team Day 1. At the same time, they had an unreliable OL that STILL hasn't really been fixed, and nowhere near the weapons they have now. When Breece was healthy they were 5-1, do you remember that? But when he went down it they had to rely on Zach carrying them more with his arm - after expressly discouraging him from doing that in MLF's offense - it started to fall apart. All of that is not to say that Zach is blameless, but those two years of failure were certainly not all on him. Yes, I agree, he has to have that break out game, but he also has to be allowed to have it, and not told repeatedly "Don't make any mistakes". No one can play scared, and that's what they had Zach doing for two years. And Monday night was not the night to take the handcuffs off. He came into a terrible situation, with not having practiced with the 1s all week, and with the Jets in a tight game with a division rival they had to beat. But this week is different. They have the chance to draw up a game plan more suited to Zach, and it's not a division, or even an AFC, game. They need to find out if Zach has it in him to have that kind of big game, even if he makes some mistakes. It's time to take the training wheels off and see if he can do that.
Credit where credit is due: he came in cold when he probably didn’t expect to play unless it was mop up duty and the team won the game. Zach made a few key plays and showed some growth. Here’s what bugs me: he threw a terrible interception and needed a great receiver to make an incredible play to stop another which would have been an absolute back breaker for the team. I dread the “he played well enough for us to win” arguments from last season, because when all was said and done it was clear that OL and QB play we’re the causes for the failed season. I can’t imagine any Jets fan would want him to fail. Anyone who doesn’t want the QB we have to be the answer to a problem that’s plagued the team for decades is out of their mind. There is certainly reason for skepticism, though.
It was not just bad QB play it was the offensive game plan and philosophy. Flacco could do nothing and I believe only won one game on a miracle. Mike White played great against the worst defensive in the league and then the OC preceded to almost get him killed against the Bills. The line pass pro was not great Monday but Hacket changed the game plan up to protect the line. A lot of talk about protecting Zach but I think most of it was protecting the O-line.
You know who played worse than Zach on Monday? Aaron Rodgers. In fact I venture to say that we might have lost that game with Rodgers at QB. Its hard to say how many sacks the old man would have taken, or how many ints and fumbles it would have lead to. At least Zach had quick enough feet to survive. Rogers injury may have just saved him a very humiliating season. He isn't mobile enough to survive our with our pass protection.
Zach didn't have a horrible game or even a bad game. He was near average. He had some bad plays, but also had enough good ones to win. This is fine considering he was thrown to the wolves against a really good defense and coaches had to change the game plan on the fly. Zach ranked 13th this week in completion percentage at 66.7% and 17th in QB rating (81.4). Yes, he's low in the passing yards department, but with a running game & defense that good, I can see why. Watching the Eagles run the ball down the Vikings throat last night, and utilizing the play action shows it can be done. I fully expect Hackett to open the offense up a little more against the Cowboys, but it will still be run heavy and feature plenty of play action. I'm definitely not saying that the Jets are going to the super bowl with him, but I see a striking similarity to the 2009 team. Outside of pass protection, they have similar strengths, and you could argue this team has better pass rush. The question is: Can he play better than Mark Sanchez?
Well that’s the thing now… If I’m thinking about THIS year, then yes we just need Zach to be adequate…say middle of the pack QB rating, completion rate, limit picks, etc. and we will have to win with D and a strong running game. I don’t think that’s a Super Bowl winning formula, but it can be a playoffs formula. Essentially, we need Zach to not shit the bed, make a few key throws a game, and not fuck it all up. And to me, if we get that, our ceiling is playoffs and most likely one and done. If I’m thinking LONG TERM, then we need Zach to really take that next step and make it clear he’s the guy…no more of this having to scrutinize 18 different details or talk about OL play or OC system or WR drops or any other damn excuses. Just show us you’re the guy. If we go through this whole year with him and we are still having the same discussions, then I’d say just let’s save ourselves the agony and admit he’s terrible and move on. It needs to be clear…when we can all actually sit here and not have to dissect every freaking throw to show why it was a good decision or not, when we can just watch the games and see that hey he gets it now…it’ll be clear. The stats will back up the eye test, and we won’t be having to go through all these gymnastics to try and explain why the bottom of the league stats don’t really show the true picture BS… He now has this year to again try and show up. We’ll see. I sincerely hope he does…that would hands down be the best outcome for us.
i agree with this for the most part but tre white had almost no chance at intercepting that pass. he had on arm tied up with garrett wilson, GW's other hand was obscuring his view, and white was falling backwards. he would have had to make an even crazier catch that GW made to intercept that ball.
GW played CB and WR on that play. That kind of stuff isn’t sustainable, but here we are, 1-0 because he did make the play this time.
maybe they felt wilson was sufficient depth. maybe wilson was in the plans. otherwise we could have went after carr on a 4-5 year deal and dump wilson right away. maybe get a 3rd or 4th back like lance got. we don't know exactly what their plans are because they won't admit them publicly for obvious reasons
if the DB gets his head around he has position and it right in his hands. the throw was so bad though the DB wasn't expecting it to be there. wilson had no business catching that ball
As the saying goes, if grandma had balls she'd be grandpa. The DB didn't get his head around and therefore didn't have a prayer of intercepting that pass. I mean that's like saying if Milano was looking backwards he wouldn't have interpreted the pass by Wilson.
were talking about possibilities. where the ball was placed it had a better chance of being picked then caught. the DB made an awful play and wilson made an amazing one. it was probably 95% incomplete, 4% INT, and 1% catch.
