Zach Wilson vs Giants: A Breakdown

I had to get this one out ASAP. What a roller coaster of emotions that game was. Watching the game in real-time, I thought Zach played bad, but maybe not awful, for 59 1/2 minutes and then had some of the biggest throws of his career to pull us out of the depths of a 0.01% win probability with 1:19 to go and ultimately get the win.

I can't gloss over the fact that we saw some of rookie and 2nd year Zach come back yesterday though. Those things simply cannot continue to happen, regardless of what the situation is on the OL or who you're facing on the other side of the ball.

Anyway, let's get into it...(link to every pass from Zach here)

1st Quarter:
15:00, 1st & 10: Jets open the game in 12 personnel, twins right. Lazard and GW (twins right), essentially run clear outs which leaves Breece wide open coming out of the backfield in the flat for a gain of 12. Perfect opening pay call. Easy throw to one of your best playmakers to get Zach rolling. Love it. (1-1, 12 yards)

13:51, 2nd & 5: Quirky 13 personnel alignment, Breece split outside of GW on the right. Not sure what Zach saw here but to me, GW is wide open on his slant from the slot. Seems like Zach is looking directly at him and the hook zone defender inside goes with Conklin leaving a solid throwing lane. Maybe he's afraid 55 will jump up and bat it down? Zach doesn't pull the trigger, Lawrence gets interior pressure causing an incomplete pass. Gotta stick that Zach. (1-2, 12 yards)

13:43, 3rd & 5: 11 personnel, trips bunch right. Again, I'm not really sure what Zach is or isn't seeing. Both Lazard and MC seem to be good options early on this play. Lazard running a slant/drag from the outside of the trips bunch and MC as Zach's checkdown out of the backfield. This is an example of rookie/2nd year Zach that we cannot see going forward. He's got to have that mental clock and once that thing hits 2.5/3 seconds, the ball has to be out. Instead, Thibodeaux beats Becton around the left side and get a strip sack and sets the Giants up for their first 3 points of the game. (1-2, 12 yards, 1 fumble)

11:24, 2nd & 11: 12 personnel, twins left. Ruckert goes in motion left to right. Lazard runs a slant from the outside of the twins. Good route and decent ball from Zach. Was maybe a tad too high but you can live with it. Gain of 6. (2-3, 18 yards, 1 fumble)

10:45, 3rd & 5: 11 personnel, empty set, trips bunch right. Zach wisely brings MC back into the backfield from the left side (STOP IT WITH THE EMPTY SETS ON 3RD AND MANAGEABLE HACKETT!!). Feels like this one is more on Gipson than Zach. Zach is ready to throw the ball immediately post-snap but Gipson's head is not turned back towards the QB. I'd like to see Zach make that throw anyway with some anticipation and hope Gipson can make the catch anyway but he still gets a chance to make the throw but it's inaccurate. Incomplete. (2-4, 18 yards, 1 fumble)

7:51, 2nd & 7: 13 personnel, Conklin goes in motion right to left. PA pass. Seems like all the other receivers just run vertical routes. Breece leaks out of the backfield and Zach hits him for a gain of 6. (3-5, 24 yards, 1 fumble)

4:49, 1st & 15: 13 personnel, TE trips bunch right (quirky). GW runs a slant from the left side of the formation, Zach hits him on time and right in the bread basket for a gain 14. THIS is the Zach we have to see going forward. Guy's open, you let it rip, no second-guessing, no hesitation. Beautiful (4-6, 38 yards, 1 fumble)

3:27, 1st & 10: 12 personnel, twins left. Zach and GW have a miscommunication. Zach thinks GW is going to sit down before the sticks but GW never cuts the route off resulting in an incompletion. I honestly don't know who's truly at fault here but I can understand Zach's thought-process here so I won't kill him for this one. GW's man is playing with 10 yards of cushion at the snap and even goes into a back pedal post-snap. The separation is there and when Zach releases the ball, the CB is still about 5-6 yards away from GW. This is just a QB and WR not being on the same page. Frustrating. (4-7, 38 yards, 1 fumble)

3:22, 2nd & 10: 11 personnel, Cook goes in motion out to the left flat. Not sure if this is the play design or what, seems to either be a screen set up for Cook or it supposed to look that way to get the defense flowing that way. Either way, Zach didn't like the look or was following the play design, snaps back to the right side and gives GW a 50/50 ball. It's a good back-shoulder ball, GW has a chance to make the catch, but Banks breaks it up. Good play by the CB, incomplete. (4-8, 38 yards, 1 fumble)

3:18, 3rd & 10: 11 personnel, trips left. This play is Wink Martindale being Wink Martindale. Giants simulate a zero blitz pre-snap but only bring 5. The entire OL gets abused and there's 4 guys in Zach's face by the time he throws the ball. Zach tries to hit his checkdown, MC, but the defender makes a play and breaks it up, incomplete. (4-9, 38 yards, 1 fumble)

1:18, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, Uzomah comes in motion left to right. Have I said lately how much of a beast Breece Hall is? This play was all Breece as Zach hits him coming out of the backfield for a gain of 50 yards and the TD. Well done by Zach to just get the ball into your playmakers hands though because this is what can happen but I'm not going to act like this was some great play by Zach either. (5-10, 88 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble) (PS: hell of an effort play by Uzomah here to block McKinney and spring Breece down the sideline)

 

2nd Quarter:
12:11, 2nd & 10: 11 personnel, trips right. Lazard comes in motion right to left to turn it into a 2x2 look. Oof, pretty sure this is the play McGovern gets hurt on, yikes does that look rough. Lawrence gets pressure up the middle and Zach stands in the pocket and throws a great ball, while getting hit, to GW running an out from the slot on the right side of the formation for a gain of 8. Thing of beauty. (6-11, 96 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

11:51, 3rd & 2: 11 personnel, 2x2. PA pass where Conklin runs a flat route from the right side of the formation. I hate this playcall and I hate the decision to throw the ball short of the sticks to your TE. If anyone gets the ball short of the sticks on 3rd down, it should be GW or Breece. They're the only players we have that can make someone miss consistently and I'll just never understand calling a play where the primary read is short of the line to gain. Gonna put most of this one on Hackett but Zach needs to know the down and distance here too. It's not even like he had a ton of pressure either, the OL actually held up pretty well on that play. Frustrating. (6-12, 96 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

10:01, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, Gipson goes in motion left to right. PA boot to the left. Not a massive fan of booting your QB towards his non-throwing shoulder but it can work. Doesn't seem like anyone is open so Zach wisely just throws it away. (6-13, 96 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

9:54, 2nd & 10: 13 personnel, TE trips right (quirky). Cook does a little studder motion and goes out to the right to create an empty set. Big fan of this pre-snap activity. Gives Zach the tell that they're in man, 41 bails out immediately to cover Cook, and he knows GW will be open on this slant from the right slot. Great route by GW and good, on-time throw by Zach. GW shakes his man after the catch and gains 14 yards. Well done. (7-14, 110 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

8:33, 2nd & 6: 11 personnel, 3x1. Zach throws it to Lazard who ran a crosser from the right side of the formation. Beautiful ball by Zach, hits Lazard right in the hands but Lazard drops it. (7-15, 110 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

8:22, 3rd & 6: 11 personnel, empty set, 3x2. Not a great decision by Zach but it was a great throw. Conklin was the correct read as he looks to be wide open and has a better chance for the 1st. Zach gives Lazard a chance but the defender is all over him. Incomplete. (7-16, 110 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

6:31, 1st & 10: 22 personnel, I-formation, TE twins left. PA delay boot to the right. Excellent play fake by Zach and good release by Uzomah. Good ball by Zach and great YAC from Uzomah for a gain of 19. (8-17, 129 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

5:05, 2nd & 7: Not sure why this play is on here. This is a run. Gipson goes in orbit motion from the left side of the field and Zach flips it back to him for an end around. Since we're here, I like this play call form Hackett. Try to do something different. Only a gain of 3 so it didn't really work that well but still worth a shot.

4:24, 3rd & 4: 12 personnel, trips left. Again, bad Zach. Rookie/2nd year Zach. There's no excuse to abandon this pocket when he does. None of his OL are beat and he's got a relatively clean pocket. He might even have GW on his slant/crosser if he stays in the pocket and tries to throw the ball. Either way, no need to run into the pressure like he does. Sack. Bad stuff. (8-17, 129 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble)

2:28, 1st & 10: 13 personnel, Conklin goes in motion left to right. Zach mishandles the C/QB exahcnge from under center, fumble, recovered by the Giants. I don't want to beat Zach up too much for this but you can't put this ball on the ground here. I get it, 3rd different person he's taken a snap from in the first 28 minutes but still, gotta grab that ball. Zach even admitted in his post game presser that it's one he should've grabbed. Based on the replay, it looks like Newman gets it to him, Zach just doesn't grab it. Again, not gonna beat hi up terribly but it's still a pretty brutal mistake. (8-17, 129 yards, 1 TD, 2 fumbles)

1:00, 3rd & 8: 11 personnel, Conklin goes in motion left to right to create trips right. Another example of bad Zach, trying to do too much. Conklin leaks out late and it wide open at the LOS. He probably doesn't get the first down but he might and at the very least that play causes the Giants to burn their 2nd TO. Instead, Zach rolls out to his left and tries to fire a tight-window throw to GW on the sideline. Incomplete. (8-18, 129 yards, 1 TD, 2 fumbles)

First Half Breakdown:
No sugar coating it, it's a really bad half from Zach both from a statistical perspective and from the eye test. He had a couple of really good throws but most of his yards were generated from YAC by Breece and GW. No picks, but that's probably one of the few positive takeaways from Zach's first half. He's got to be better, a lot better.

 

3rd Quarter:
8:02, 2nd & 16: 21 personnel, 1x3, Bawden split out wide left? (What are we doing here??). GW runs a slant from the right side. Good ball from Zach and good route by GW. GW gets PI against Banks. Well done all around. (8-19, 129 yards, 1 TD, 2 fumbles)

7:19, 2nd & 6: 12 personnel, Lazard comes in motion from the left side but stacks behind the TEs. GW runs a slant but Zach throws it behind him, incomplete. He's got pressure in his face but this is still a throw he's got to make. (8-20, 129 yards, 1 TD, 2 fumbles)

7:14, 3rd & 6: 11 personnel, trips left. I can't see anywhere for Zach to go here. Tomlinson gets beat like a drum and lets our old friend Leonard Williams get to Zach fairly quickly. Zach tries to scramble but gets chased down by Thibodeaux. Gain of 2. (8-20, 129 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

4:28, 2nd & 8: 11 personnel, empty set, trips right. Giants simulate a zero look. Only bring 3 but somehow Tomlinson still allows Lawrence to beat him inside (Tomlinson did not look good yesterday). Zach's able to dance in the pocket and scramble backwards (NOOOOO) but throws a good ball to GW on the opposite sideline. Thought he was throwing it away but it's a good ball and good catch by GW. Gain of 7. (9-20, 136 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

3:41, 3rd & 1: 11 personnel, empty set, trips right. Conklin runs an out from the left slot. Good ball form Zach IMO. If he throws this anymore inside Pinnock has a good chance to pick this. Conklin just can't create enough separation so it's an ultra tight-window and Conklin can't come down with it. My bigger complaint is with Hackett here....WHY THE F*** ARE WE RUNNING PLAYS FROM AN EMPTY SET ON 3RD & 1?!?!?!?! WHY DON'T YOU JUST HAVE ALL OF OUR PLAYERS WEAR A BRIGHT NEON SIGN ON THIER CHEST SAYING, "JUST PLAY PASS HERE, WE'RE DEFINITELY NOT RUNNING THE BALL" Just ridiculous man, especially with a RB of Breece Hall's caliber. Even if you don't want to run it into the teeth of the Giants D considering we've got a PS guy at C, RUN A F****** TOSS PLAY!!! GET BREECE OUT IN SPACE! Man, you're so infuriating with your play calls sometimes Hackett. (9-21, 136 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

0:36, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, Taylor goes in motion right to left. PA screen right to Breece. Okereke sniffs it out and stops it for a loss of 1 yard. Probably should've tried to incorporate more screens. (10-22, 135 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

 

4th Quarter:
15:00, 2nd & 11: 11 personnel, trips right. Breece goes in motion out to the right flat pre-snap. Designed screen to Breece out in the flat (more of these please Hackett), Breece does Breece things for a gain of 10. (11-23, 145 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

14:23, 3rd & 1: 12 personnel, Uzomah goes in motion left to right. PA pass play to Breece out in the right flat. More bad Zach. This is just another rookie/2nd year Zach play. Breece is there. It's a lay-up for our first 3rd down conversion of the day. Zach just short arms it into Breece's feet. Bad, bad, bad. Seems like maybe the ball slipped out of his hand or something, I don't care. he's got to make that throw. (11-24, 145 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

11:53, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, trips bunch left. Again, not a pass, not sure why this play is included. End around for GW who gains 6 yards. More of these please Hackett. Show some creativity more often.

11:13, 2nd & 4: 22 personnel, TE twins right. Max protect, so GW is Zach's only option on this play (hate that). Zach throws an absolute dart to GW on the sideline and GW shows off some incredible body control to get 2 feet down on the sideline. Good things happen when you throw the ball to GW. Gain of 17. (12-25, 162 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

10:26, 2nd & 13: 13 personnel, Conklin goes in motion right to left. PA pass. Zach's got pressure in his face almost immediately form Lawrence who bulls Bill Turner (WOOF that's a bad rep from Billy). Even with that, Zach almost get the ball to Ruckert but can't get enough on the ball. Incomplete. (12-26, 162 yards, 1 TD, 1 rush, 2 yards, 2 fumbles)

10:20, 3rd & 13: 11 personnel, trips right, Conklin fakes motion right to left but comes back right. Bill Turner once again gets beat inside by Lawrence who flushes Zach out of the pocket. Zach tries to do something and starts to run the ball, only gets 6 yards though. I think Zach wanted to hit Conklin in the right flat but Leo gets his hands up which causes Zach to pull the ball down and try to run for it. (12-26, 162 yards, 1 TD, 2 rushes, 8 yards, 2 fumbles)

2:38, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, trips bunch right. Ideally, I think Zach wants to get this ball to GW on the slant but he's got to get rid of the ball due to pressure. It's not a perfect throw but he hits Breece in the flat for a loss of 1. (13-27, 161 yards, 1 TD, 2 rushes, 8 yards, 2 fumbles)

2:34, 2nd & 11: 11 personnel, 2x2 look. GW runs a corner route from the outside on the right side. Zach throws it to him but GW can't quite haul it in. Zach needs to put more zip on this ball but GW needs to come back more. I said it in the game thread but if GW wants to be viewed as that alpha #1 WR, he needs to pull this one in. It's a tough catch and I'm not necessarily blaming him for the incompletion but I think he could've helped Zach out here a little more. Regardless, it results in an incompletion. (13-28, 161 yards, 1 TD, 2 rushes, 8 yards, 2 fumbles)

2:27, 3rd & 10: 11 personnel, 2x2 look. Zach sees nothing and takes of fairly quickly. Scrambles for a gain of 17 on 3rd down. Huge play by Zach, and I hope he utilizes his legs more going forward (feel like I say that after every game though). (13-28, 161 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

2:19, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, trips bunch right. Another bad play by Zach. I can't see if anything is open or not but Zach has to have better awareness and not take this sack. He's out of the pocket, throw that thing away man. 2nd & 10 is a lot better than 2nd & 20. (13-28, 161 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

2:00, 2nd & 20: 11 personnel, trips left, Conklin goes in motion to create a 2x2 look. Perfect Cover 2 playcall, route, and ball here. Lazard runs a curl from the outside of the left side. Great play to get 10 yards back and make it a more manageable 3rd down opp (4 down territory at this point anyway). (14-29, 171 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

1:39, 3rd & 10: 11 personnel, trips right. Lazard runs a slant from the left side of the formation. Great ball by Zach. Good location and timing. Lazard just doesn't catch it. We really need a better #2 option. Incomplete. (14-30, 171 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

1:33, 4th & 10: 11 personnel, 2x2 look. Inexcusable play by Zach. 4th down, game on the line, you absolutely cannot take a sack here. Throw this ball to anyone, preferably GW, but literally anyone. Best case, your WR catches it or you get a DPI. Worst case, it's a pick but a pick is better than a sack in this situation. Again, Bad Zach. (14-30, 171 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

0:24, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, trips right. Giants are playing ultra conservative but Zach gets the offsides penalty and throws a seed to GW who gets all the way down to the Giants 45 yard line. Perfection, gain of 29. (15-31, 200 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

0:17, 1st & 10: 11 personnel, 2x2. Lawrence beats Newman and forces Zach out of the pocket almost immediately. Zach rolls out to his right, keeps his eyes downfield and fires a dart to Lazard who created some separation downfield after working back inside. Gain of 29 down to the Giants 17. (16-32, 229 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

0:02, 1st & 10: Unbelievable execution by the entire offense and massive shoutout to Newman who spotted the ball perfectly allowing us the clock the ball with 1 second left. Technically an incompletion for Zach though. (16-33, 229 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

Overtime:
7:33, 2nd & 10: 13 personnel. Breece leaks out of the backfield through the A gap and runs an out to the right. Zach throws a good ball to him but Breece drops it. Bad drop by Breece. That play might have ended the game as it doesn't look like there's anyone in front of Breece for at least 10-15 yards. (16-34, 229 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

7:26, 3rd & 10: 11 personnel, trips right. GW runs a curl/comeback at the sticks down the left sideline. Zach gets pressured but delivers a good ball to GW who works back to the ball through the DPI, catches the ball, gets up and gets 11 yards for the first down. Unbelievable play by both guys here. (17-35, 240 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

6:25, 2nd & 5: 12 personnel, twins left. Not sure what happened here. I think the announcers were onto something in that Breece turned his flat route into a wheel and got in the way, otherwise I think GW comes down with this ball running a corner route from the left slot. (17-36, 240 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles)

6:17, 3rd & 5: 11 personnel, empty set, trips left. This is why even if you think your guy won't come down with it you give him a shot. Malik Taylor runs a slot fade from the right side of the field. Zach stands in the pocket even with Lawrence pushing Newman into his lap and affecting his release. Still is able to get the ball close enough that Taylor tries to fight back to it and gets the DPI call. Ball game.

 

Half by Half Breakdown:
1st Half:
8-18, 129 yards, 1 TD, 2 fumbles

2nd Half:
9-18, 111 yards, 3 rushes, 25 yards

Total:
17-36, 240 yards, 1 TD, 3 rushes, 25 yards, 2 fumbles

TLDR; Zach played bad yesterday for the first 59 1/2 minutes. He then made the necessary throws in the final 4 1/2 minutes for us to get the win. I can't excuse his total performance though. It was very bad to start and pretty bad overall. If he played like he did for those final 4 1/2 minutes all the time, he'd be a top 15-20 QB, which would be good enough for this team to be a playoff team but as I've preached and preached with Zach for awhile now, it's all about consistency. Until he can consistently be a solid QB, I'll remain skeptical.

Gotta give him props for those last 2 drives but he's got to do better going forward. 13 points is rarely going to win games in this league. Celebrate the win and as Saleh said at his presser yesterday, "They don't ask, How? They ask, How many?" Hackett, the OL, the WRs, and Zach all have to be better or we've got no shot at the playoffs going forward.

 

A good Instagram post from Daniel Jeremiah here with some All-22 looks at Zach's best plays.

EDIT: I would disagree with his assertion that it was a solid game from Zach. He did make some really good throws, but he's always good for a handful of good throws every game. I would even agree that I think Zach has improved from last year and there are a couple of really good examples of his increased pocket presence/navigation. I even agree that their were situations where the OL or WRs let Zach down but 6-7 of his best plays from don't negate the bad from Zach yesterday.

Idk, I might be willing to listen to DJ and budge slightly to say it was a below average game but both the eye test and his stats from yesterday support it being a bad/below average game for Zach. Either way, he needs to be better.

 

"Interesting Zach Wilson game to evaluate. Some really low lows. Got back to the egregious errors of his first two seasons that we saw far fewer of in 2023. Fumble, inexcusable sacks, missed an incredibly easy 3rd & 1 throw.

At the same time... it was an awful situation around him and he overcame it to make a lot of big throws in low-percentage situations, some not caught. And finished the game strong when given a last-ditch chance by the defense, something he couldn't do multiple times in the past.

I don't think it's fair to trash him for this game and I also don't think it's fair to absolve him. Plenty of bad and plenty of good."

 

"Lots of low lows for Zach Wilson. But I thought his highs were fairly high, and there were actually quite a few of them.

The pressure + poor separation made his job tough, forcing lots of low-percentage throws. And he nailed a lot of those difficult plays --- some not caught."

 

"Zach had been greatly decreasing his propensity for missed layups like this one. Can't miss an unpressured and uncontested 3rd & 1 throw in the flat.

Something he's been better at this year, hopefully doesn't show up again. Very costly."