DEFLATE EXPECTATIONS
Don’t count on Wilson to be savior in first game back
THE Jets need a hero in the worst way, but they don’t need Zach Wilson to try to play hero ball when he is cleared to return for their game Sunday in Pittsburgh.
While it helps that Wilson is no statue standing stationary in the pocket, neither is poor Daniel Jones, for all the good it did him on Monday night against the carnivorous Cowboys.
In other words, don’t expect miracles from Wilson.
Don’t expect him to be the savior.
If Wilson doesn’t get more help than Jones got from his offensive line and wide receivers, he’ll be a hero only if he makes it through what is now his 14-game season, in which the franchise is expecting him to Take Flight.
But the reality is that if head coach Robert Saleh and the Jets plan on keeping receipts, they will need the very best of Wilson.
Problem is, no one has any idea or can possibly predict what that will be.
Wilson benefited observing how to operate coordinator Mike LaFleur’s offense during his month on the sideline last season after an injury to the same right knee that has cost him the first three weeks of this season. When he made it back on the field last season, he stopped resembling an overmatched rookie quarterback out of BYU trying to show everyone why he was the second overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
His return this time should provide some kind of spark, but it is unrealistic for anyone to believe that he will hit the ground running and elevate the play of everyone around him.
Everyone around him should do the kid a favor and help elevate their young quarterback’s play, starting with LaFleur. Joe
Flacco threw
155 times in his three games. The
Jets made just
57 rushing attempts. Starting fast and feeding Michael Carter and
Breece Hall (and not forgetting to target them in the passing game) would be wise. There is no ideal time to play quarterback for anyone, much less for a quarterback with 13 career starts when your left tackle (George Fant), who was switched back from right tackle, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with a knee injury. That appears to mean Conor McDermott will be the left tackle against the Steelers and until veteran street free agent Mike Remmers is ready, and rookie Max Mitchell will be the right tackle. There is no ideal time to play quarterback for anyone, much less a quarterback with 13 career starts, when your defense stars in a sideline passion play and fails to communicate at the most critical times on the field.
Hope has sprung eternal for an eternity for the long-suffering Jets fan. If it’s any consolation, and it’s probably not, among the quarterbacks drafted in the first round in 2021, only first-overall pick Trevor Lawrence has begun to take the second-year leap. Trey Lance is lost for the season with a broken ankle, Justin Fields (two TDs, four INTs, 51.1 completion percentage) continues to endure growing pains and Mac Jones will miss multiple games with a high ankle sprain.
But it’s too early for nothing but doom and gloom, so let’s look on the bright side for a change: Wilson’s well-chronicled improvisational gifts will help him keep plays alive.
The Steelers have a 30.5 QB pressure percentage with T.J. Watt, compared to 19.0 without, according to NextGen Stats. And Wilson doesn’t have to worry about Watt (pectoral). Unlike Daniel Jones, Wilson has the same HC and OC as he did as a rookie.
Unlike Jones, he has a rising star to target, in rookie Garrett Wilson. Jones and the Giants have to be frustrated that their 2021 first-round draft pick, Kadarius Toney, cannot stay on the field.
The Steelers (1-2) will be an angry outfit, but Wilson won’t have to win any shootout against Mitch Trubisky, and Pittsburgh OC Matt Canada is under fire.
The game is at Acrisure Stadium, so Wilson won’t be serenaded with the “We Want [Mike] White” chants that Flacco heard at MetLife Stadium in Weeks 1 and 3.
Now go get ’em, kid.