In Year 2, Zach must best Mac
AT first glance, Robert Saleh’s scouting report on Zach Wilson’s upgraded physique — his shoulders are back and he’s not caved in — was not one to get excited about. Generally speaking, for a player drafted by the Jets to end a Super Bowl drought that has covered more than a half century, you would hope for something more than, you know, “not caved in.”
But if nothing else, once the Jets’ organized team activity started Tuesday, Saleh’s report proved accurate. Wilson had gained 13 pounds with a nutritionist’s help to weigh in at 221. His shoulders were pinned back as he jogged about the team’s emerald, practice fields in his red No. 2 jersey.
The Jets are supposed to be muscled up after a 4-13 season of excruciating growing pains with a rookie head coach and a quarterback who spent much of the time gasping for air. They aced the draft (we think) and, factoring in free-agent signings, they have given Wilson a much better chance to score points in Year 2.
In the name of keeping springtime goals realistic, here’s one that shouldn’t be too much to ask of the second overall pick in the 2021 draft:
Zach Wilson should outplay the other AFC East quarterback whose new and improved physique has made news. He should be a better football player than Mac Jones.
Though outplaying Buffalo’s Josh Allen, a legit league MVP candidate, is unrealistic, it’s not too early for Wilson to be the second-best quarterback in the division, assuming he is what the Jets tell us he is.
Up in New England, Jones has reportedly shed the same kind of dad bod that Tom Brady arrived with more than two decades ago.
“His stomach is gone, and he looks really good,” receiver Kendrick Bourne said of Jones. “He’s definitely a pro’s pro now.”
The Patriots quarterback explained that he cleaned up his diet and committed himself to proper sleep, wellness, and lower body-fat levels. Good for him. Jones has been everything Bill Belichick could have expected from the fifth
quarterback picked the 2021 draft, and then some.
But the Patriots have suffered a brain drain on offense, losing four assistants to Las Vegas, including new Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, the best offensive coordinator of his generation, and Bo
Hardegree, who helped shape Jones into the league’s best rookie quarterback. That leaves former Giants head coach Joe Judge and former Lions head coach Matt Patricia to help Belichick help Jones.
Maybe none of that will matter, and New England will go 11-6 because Belichick is Belichick and the Pats are the Pats. Or maybe this will be a rare Foxborough opening that the Jets can exploit.
Either way, Wilson should take it personally that Jones completely outplayed him in Year 1, even if he says he doesn’t.
“I don’t try and compare my play to anybody else, as far as other quarterbacks go,” Wilson said Tuesday. “I try and look at what I did last year and what I put on film and how I can just keep improving on that.”
Those comparisons will be printed and aired anyway. Jones made the playoffs, Wilson did not. Jones made the Pro Bowl, Wilson did not. Jones went 10-7 in his starts, Wilson went 3-10 in his. Jones completed 67.6 percent of his attempts and threw for 22 touchdowns against 13 interceptions, Wilson completed 55.6 percent of his attempts and threw for nine touchdowns and 11 picks.
On the bright side, Wilson delivered four rushing touchdowns to none for Jones, and proved to be the superior athlete while competing with teammates and coaches who were inferior to those of the Patriots.
This time around, the game shouldn’t be moving too fast for Saleh and staff, and the talent gap between the teams shouldn’t be as wide.
“We’re definitely going to be better,” Wilson said.
Their quarterback has no choice but to be better.
“You can tell his head’s right,” Saleh said. “He’s in a great mental space. … He looks good. He’s confident. He’s smiling. He’s vocal.
“You can always tell the [confidence] level in their understanding of what they’re being asked to do by the volume of their voice, and he’s getting pretty loud.”
Saleh said it takes NFL players three years to figure things out, but it seems Jones made that happen in one year.
Jones was drafted 13 overall spots and three quarterback spots after Wilson, who needs to spend the 2022 season reminding people why.
SAN FRANCISCO — Johan Santana was awakening in Spain last month when he learned he no longer stood alone in Mets history.
Removing the “silent” mode from his phone, messages came at Santana fast and furious, some with clips of the previous night’s game at Citi Field.
“All of a sudden I see highlights, highlights, what’s going on here?” Santana said Tuesday in a phone conversation.
Those highlights showed five Mets pitchers combining on a no-hitter against the Phillies. Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz completed a feat that had been accomplished only once in team history, almost a decade earlier by Santana.
As Santana prepares for a return to Citi Field next week, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his June 1,
2012, no-hitter against the
Cardinals, he’s ready to tip his cap to the new Mets who have joined him in franchise lore.
Santana recalled saying on a Zoom call in March to promote the anniversary celebration that he thought the Mets would soon have another no-hitter.
“I thought [Jacob] deGrom or [Max] Scherzer would do it,” Santana said.
“I thought if someone could, it was deGrom, but to have it as combined … it’s not easy to do.
“It’s tough to achieve something like that. It’s welldeserved — that means something went right, but looking into the future, that might be a thing, something you see more often. Baseball has changed and that is the way it goes and that is the way they approach the game now, so I won’t be surprised if you see more combined no-hitters in the future.”
The Mets will celebrate Santana’s no-hitter on Tuesday instead of the actual June 1 anniversary because of logistics. Rather than holding the ceremony before a getaway day game that fewer fans are likely to attend, the Mets opted for Tuesday night.
Santana personally invited Terry Collins to the event because of the reverence he holds for the former Mets manager. Collins faced the gut-wrenching decision of whether to let Santana pursue the no-hitter only two months into his return from shoulder surgery. Santana threw 134 pitches in completing the gem, but his time with the Mets was short thereafter; he incurred further shoulder problems that ended his career.
“Terry is a friend, and going back in time when everything happened he thought it was all his fault, because of my shoulder, but it’s not,” Santana said. “This is baseball and that is how baseball is and how sports are: You are going to have surgeries, you are going to get injuries and to have Terry, it’s always good, it’s great because he is part of what we did and he’s a great person. Not just a manager, but a person. Not just to me but the whole team and I really appreciate that.” Santana said he’s got no regrets about the night. “I had an opportunity to do something very special and to achieve something that I had never done before,” he said. “Up to that point it was not done for the team, so I had an opportunity to do something very special and I don’t regret anything I did on the field. I just happened to have an opportunity to do something special and we went for it.”
The former pitcher hasn’t returned to Citi Field since his last pitching appearance for the team and said he would like to remain involved in the Mets family. Santana is also scheduled to appear at OldTimers’ Day on Aug. 27.
“To be recognized now after so many years, it’s very special,” Santana said. “It will be my first time in New York after so many years. I never had a chance to go back. Now I have an opportunity to go back and it means a lot.”