Best way for Jets to peel off early scabs is to win

The Jets have been roughed up so far this season.

At 0-3, they are searching for answers and trying to get their offense, which looked inept last week against the Broncos, on track. This week, they face the Titans (2-1), who have won two straight and are led by the best running back in football, Derrick Henry.

It will be a tough assignment for the young Jets defense, which has played pretty well. The young offense can’t make the same claim. They have scored just 20 points this season, the lowest total in the league, and they gained just 162 yards last week in Denver.

The Jets have more rookie starters than any team in the league, and it has shown. First-year head coach Robert Saleh said his team has to learn from the mistakes it has already made.

“I call them scars,” Saleh said. “And when a player makes a mistake, whether they’re a rookie or a veteran, it doesn’t matter, you get scarred. You remember that scar for life. … And so, there is an accountability and they’ve got to learn from them. The last thing you want is for those cuts to happen twice, three times, four. It’s one time, we move on, you learn, can you play faster? That’s the whole key to this whole thing. When you play a young group, you’re trying to get them to a veteran’s mindset while they’re youthful.”

Leading the way when it comes to being beaten up and battered in this early season is rookie quarterback Zach Wilson. He has been sacked 15 times and intercepted seven. Wilson has looked confused at times, but Saleh said the team still believes in Wilson, this year’s No. 2-overall pick.

“I mean, I think he’s suffering every scar you can possibly imagine,” Saleh said. “But it’s a good thing, it really is, it’s a good thing because he is one of those guys who gets to the film room, he gets to the meeting room, he’s asking the right questions, he’s got tremendous process. And he’s only going to get better and when it clicks, everyone’s going to see why he was the second overall pick. It’s just a matter of it clicking.”

Wilson said this week that he has not been shaken by his early struggles.

“I feel confident,” Wilson said. “I feel like it’s really close. I feel like every play it’s one guy here, one guy there and we need all 11 to be great. I need to do my part, of course. I’m included in that one guy making that mistake. There’s plenty of plays like that, so I feel like we’re really close as an offense to just having all 11 guys being on the same page.”