There has been a musical theme around the Jets lately with a certain pop star’s presence drawing a lot of attention at Sunday night’s game.
With that in mind, let’s say Zach Wilson delivered a banger on Sunday night that has the Jets and their fans way more excited than they were a week ago about the rest of the 2023 season.
The question now, though, is whether he will be just a one-hit wonder of if he can keep pumping out hits.
Wilson’s performance against the Chiefs on Sunday night was remarkable considering what we have seen from Wilson in the recent past. It felt like he was a broken quarterback just a week ago against the Patriots. It did not seem like he was seeing the field. It did not seem like he trusted himself. He looked scared.
But on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, he posted the highest passer rating of his career (105.2), completed the most passes (28) of his career and threw two touchdowns with zero interceptions for the first time in his career.
It was not just the statistics either. It was the way he looked on the field. He was in command and confident. He was seeing the field and making good, quick decisions. Wilson was making plays both within the offense and when it broke down.
“It’s what we’ve been seeing all offseason,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said.
Saleh stressed that for Wilson the key is playing free and making those quick decisions.
“When he is fast and he speeds it up and he just lets it rip, he’s pretty damn accurate and he’s pretty darn good,” Saleh said.
Now, the question becomes whether Sunday night was a mirage or if something truly clicked in Wilson’s 26th game as a pro.
The next test comes Sunday in Denver against a weak Broncos defense that gave up 70 points to the Dolphins two weeks ago and got torched by Justin Fields and the Bears last week.
Wilson has given the Jets hope again, something that was in short supply last week as the world seemed to be caving in on Wilson with Joe Namath trashing him, Willie Gay laughing at him and everyone questioning why Saleh was sticking with him.
The lesson from this, of course, is things change quickly around the NFL and a poor performance against the Broncos will just reignite the criticism of Wilson next week. But if he can play well again and the Jets can win this time, the ship will be steadied. The Jets will be 2-3 and then facing a tough Eagles team and then an easier post-bye schedule.
“Now we’ve got to stack it up,” Saleh said.
There are reasons to believe that Wilson has turned a corner. Last year’s experience of getting benched for Mike White and then pushed aside as the team pursued Aaron Rodgers clearly humbled Wilson. He has seemed different this year in the locker room and his teammates have defended him through his recent struggles more than they did last year. No one has printed up any Tim Boyle T-shirts this season.
That new maturity was on display after the 23-20 loss on Sunday. He told his teammates and then the media that the loss was on him because of his fourth-quarter fumble that led to the Chiefs running out the clock with help from the officials.
Wilson has not been one to point a thumb at himself in the past and most famously irritated the defense last year with his failure to take accountability after the loss in Foxborough.
“He’s 100 percent taken a big leap forward. He’s been awesome,” Saleh said. “To go from the face of the program, No. 2 pick, to take a back seat to take another back seat because we’re going to go get another starter even though we don’t know who that starter is and no, we’re not going to move on from you so you know that you’re going to end up being a backup and you’re going to watch somebody else be the new face of the program. To go through this offseason and then to get thrust back into it. He is mentally … a resilient individual. He truly is and I think he’s had a tremendous amount of growth over the last year.”
The pressure on the pop star is always to come up with the next big hit and not lean on your last one. Wilson has a chance to make some sweet music again this week in Denver. The Jets can’t afford any more sour notes from him.
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