Last week, Zach Wilson told reporters: “I still believe nobody outside of this building knows what they’re talking about.”
Inside the Jets’ building, the team has decided Wilson’s performance isn’t good enough. Monday, coach Robert Saleh was unwilling to commit to Wilson as the starter for Sunday against the Bears, pulling back from what had been steadfast support of his quarterback.
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“We’re keeping everything on the table,” Saleh said. “I’ve got to be able to sit back — I think we all have to be able to sit back — and just look at what’s best for this organization and this team.”
Wilson’s performance against the Patriots in Week 11 (9 of 22 for 77 yards and a 50.8 QB rating) didn’t sit well with some in the team locker room. The defense permitted just three points and yet the Jets still wound up losing 10-3. That came just two games after Wilson threw three interceptions in another loss to New England.
Wilson didn’t help himself after Sunday’s game, when he had a chance to put responsibility for the loss on his shoulders and refused.
So now, the winds — not the ones that bothered him in New England — are blowing in the direction of his benching, an improbable (but warranted) turn of events for the 2021 No. 2 pick. Should Saleh sit Wilson, the Jets would start Mike White or Joe Flacco, the other two quarterbacks on the active roster. The Jets also have veteran Chris Streveler on the practice squad.
“It’s not always about the quarterback,” Saleh said, “but there’s also an evaluation process to make sure that we’re doing what’s best for the organization, and that’s at every position.”
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It’s a far cry from how Saleh spoke about the quarterback position after Wilson’s first loss to the Patriots, when he said Wilson would remain the starter for the rest of the season, barring injury. Wilson isn’t hurt. And Saleh’s willingness to bench him says a lot about how bad things have gotten.
Wilson, in a way, wound up being a victim of the Jets’ unexpected success. This was supposed to be a developmental season for him, one in which he could take his lumps while the Jets improved on last season’s 4-13 record to put themselves in position to compete for the playoffs in 2023.
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Instead, they went into their bye week with a 6-3 record, powered by one of the NFL’s best defenses. Wilson needs more seasoning before he’s ready to quarterback a playoff team. The Jets need a quarterback capable of operating their run-heavy offense and making the necessary throws when the rushing attack isn’t working — as it wasn’t in both Patriots losses.
And Wilson just hasn’t been that guy. According to Pro Football Focus, Wilson is the worst quarterback in the NFL this season when passing while under pressure. He leads the league with 11 turnover-worthy plays in those situations. Wilson has also thrown only four touchdowns in seven games — Flacco threw four against the Browns in Week 2 — and his completion percentage (55.6) is the worst among quarterbacks to start at least two games this season.
Zach Wilson as a rookie: 55.6% completions.
Zach Wilson in year two: 55.6% completions.
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) November 21, 2022
There have been 95 quarterbacks drafted in 2000 or later to start at least 20 games. Wilson ranks 92nd of 95 in terms of EPA (expected points added) per dropback through 20 starts. As a team, the Jets are 25th in passing offense, 22nd in scoring and graded as the league’s worst offense by PFF.
“I do think we’ve got a championship-quality defense,” Saleh said. “I do think we have really good players on offense. I do think, from a schematic standpoint, we’re right there with everyone else, but just trying to evaluate to see how we can get this offense going a little bit.”
Some players have expressed frustration with the passing offense, most notably rookie receiver Garrett Wilson on Sunday, when the Jets could muster only 103 yards of total offense and just 2 yards after halftime.
“This s— is not OK. Straight up,” he said. “This is not OK. How many total yards we have? That s— is not going to fly.”
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Asked how the Jets can fix the passing game, Garrett Wilson said: “Things that we see and don’t call out, it’s just gotta start getting called out. This is unacceptable. Nobody wants to feel like this, but that’s not enough. You’ve gotta do something about it. Hopefully this is a wake-up for some people in the facility to get on our details.”
Wilson and Denzel Mims were visibly frustrated on multiple occasions during the game when Zach Wilson missed them down the field.
Saleh said he was OK with Garrett Wilson’s comments after the game, and he seemed to agree with the sentiment behind them, too.
“It’s unacceptable,” Saleh said of the offense’s performance. “It’s not NFL football, so everything is just being talked about. How can we be better? How can we be better as coaches? How can we call the game better? How can we game plan better? How can we execute better? How can we change practice? So, yeah, the quarterback is part of the pile of stuff that’s being talked about and it’s something that we’ve got to find an answer to.”
Maybe the answer to those questions is simply Mike White or Joe Flacco.
The Jets wouldn’t be the first team in playoff contention to switch quarterbacks late in the season, though it is certainly unusual.
In 2000, the Ravens were 5-3 with Tony Banks at quarterback but replaced him with Trent Dilfer after two straight losses and four weeks without an offensive touchdown. The Ravens finished 12-4 and eventually won the Super Bowl, powered by a great defense.
In 1999, Doug Flutie led the Bills to a 10-5 record but was replaced for the last game of the regular season and the playoffs by Rob Johnson, a decision that coach Wade Phillips later said was ordered by Bills owner Ralph Wilson. The Bills won in Week 17 but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
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More recently, in 2017, the Bills (5-4) benched Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman. The change didn’t last long — Buffalo went back to Taylor after Peterman threw five interceptions in his first start.
So what does the future hold for the Jets? They have a difficult slate the rest of the way, though a game against a 3-8 Bears team that could be without quarterback Justin Fields is a good place to begin. After that, they have back-to-back road games against the 8-2 Vikings and 7-3 Bills, home games against the streaking Lions and 3-7 Jaguars, and then two road games to end the season against the 6-4 Seahawks and 7-3 Dolphins.
Saleh wouldn’t say Monday who he was considering to start if he does bench Wilson, but White would be the logical choice. Saleh elevated him to the No. 2 spot in Week 8, demoting Flacco to third string. The idea was to get an opportunity to evaluate White, Saleh said, in the event Wilson got injured. Instead, White — a fan favorite — could simply replace him.
The Jets saw the best and worst of what White can do last season when he filled in for an injured Wilson. He became a cult hero after his first start, when he went 37 of 45 for 403 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in a win over the Bengals. It was offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur’s passing offense at its best — Wilson didn’t throw for more than 300 yards for the first time in his career until the Week 8 loss to the Patriots.
But two weeks after White’s debut, he threw four interceptions in a loss to the Bills, Flacco took over for a week against the Dolphins and Wilson closed out the year. White, who was clearly outplayed by Flacco in this year’s training camp, completed 64.8 percent of his passes in the preseason with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 96.1 passer rating.
The 37-year-old Flacco started the first three games of this season, which Wilson missed due to a knee injury. In that stretch, Flacco led the NFL in pass attempts (155) and was averaging 300.3 passing yards per game. Wilson has played in four more games — but has only 34 more pass attempts.
Flacco is much slower than Wilson and with a struggling offensive line, the lack of mobility was an issue in losses to the Ravens and Bengals, when he was sacked seven times. But Flacco also guided the Jets to an improbable come-from-behind win against the Browns in Week 2, when he threw for 307 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and had a 110.7 passer rating.
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The Jets’ offensive line is in worse shape now than when Flacco last played. Left tackle Duane Brown is back, but playing through a lingering shoulder injury. Guard/tackle Alijah Vera-Tucker is out for the season, tackles Max Mitchell and George Fant are both on injured reserve and right guard Nate Herbig missed last week with a shin injury that’s expected to linger for the rest of the year. The offensive line allowed 11 pressures and three sacks against the Patriots.
But no matter who starts against the Bears, and beyond that, the Jets just need a quarterback who can steer the ship and lead a playoff-caliber roster. This is a team lacking production from the most important position.
In the offseason, the discussion will turn to whether the Jets should sign a veteran like Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr or Gardner Minshew to replace Wilson, or make a blockbuster trade for someone else. But for now, the Jets just need competence at quarterback.
Wilson isn’t providing that.
(Top photo: David Butler II / USA Today)
