Yeah, I understand that, and agree that Zach needs to play better and fast. Like the first drive of the Bears game fast. Or the Jets may have no choice but to try someone else. The defense is too good and there are weapons on offense that need to be utilized. Definitely agree with that.
I think what they need to get to the bottom of is whether he has no understanding, or whether he isn’t processing at game speed. To your point the play you’re referencing had 3 reads. Number one before the ball was snapped was to watch the single high Safety’s first move. If he’s coming in then Zach should know right away that Mims was the guy for an easy TD. He was looking that way. 2nd was the receiver running the outside Go route. The defender covered overtop, so the 3rd read was the TE squatting underneath who was also wide open (though he shouldn’t have been). The single high Safety moved in and once he did you see he recognized he made a mistake and went flat footed. Given that he didn’t cover the deep route he should’ve been committed to covering the underneath TE but he froze leaving Conklin open as well. Zach had 2 wide open options that he was actually looking at but still chose to pull it down. The answer to the riddle of Zach is why did he pull it down and run. These are the options: Does he say he didn’t see Mims? He didn’t need to, the Defense alone told him that at worst Mims had a 1x1 opportunity to make a play, at best Mims was wide open. These are throws all good QB’s will throw blind. They will take 1x1 with a playmaker everytime. Does he say that he didn’t see the Safety moving in? Then the answer is he’s rushing through his progressions or not trusting him receivers. Does he say he didn’t trust a 20 yard throw in the wind? Then why not Conklin underneath? If this is the case then it’s clear he’s not getting beyond his first read or two at best. My personal feeling is he doesn’t understand the depths of football strategies to the level a pro QB that doesn’t rely on his legs needs to understand it to have success. Zach may have tons of physical talent, but his mental game is trash. His best shot was to sit and truly learn the game for at least all of his rookie season. Throwing him out there with his limited knowledge is like throwing a cow into a tornado and asking it to perform a ballet.
I still don't know what makes people think Zach CAN EVER BE a "franchise QB" other than his draft position. He had one good college year beating up on Troy State and Coastal Carolina, but can you point to one really good game he has had in the pros? Even in the Steeler comeback that Zach lovers point to, Zach was saved on that final drive by a great sliding catch by Corey Davis on a throw which was low and behind Davis. Nothing personal against Zach, but all of the same things about a great arm were said about failed jet QB Browning Nagle (who at least played a competitive college schedule). Jimmy G. threw 4 TDS last night and the 49ers were going to bench him all this year in favor of Lance. The jets CAN find another QB. Zach Wilson and his pathetic performances are NOT the only option.
Its ridiculous watching him overthrow 20 ft swing passes by 2 ft, on what is a QB bread and butter play. You can't fix that. There's no fixing Zach.
I keep seeing posts comparing Zach Wilson's numbers to Jamarcus Russell's or Sam Darnold's, and honestly, that is not fair. First of all, Zach came out terribly his rookie year. Numbers started off bad. Then he came back from injury and was a pretty good game manager, but that does not put up great stats. Then year 2, he misses the first 3 games, again does a pretty good job game managing in his return, which does not put up great stats, but wins 5 games. His 2 losses? Terrible performances against the Patriots. So when you add all that up, the numbers look worse than they really are. Again, they are clearly not good numbers, but they are being used to make Zach look worse than he really is, which is annoying.
For those who have played or have kids in Pop Warner, maybe you've seen what I've seen. Specifically in about 6th grade for some reason other than greatness, a kid is picked by the coach to be the QB. After a year of this he's likely to continue in 7th grade and 8th merely due to his experience. As HS rolls around of course he goes out for JV QB and depending on the competition may be starting--this continue through HS whereby now he has 6 years of experience at the position and has learned a lot--maybe he has some tools but often not at the highest level. He goes to a small college as the "398th-ranked overall recruit coming out of high school" (link is to a paywall so not posting it). Based on experience, excellent rbs and wr's and a soft schedule he wins some games with the few natural tools he was blessed with. Now he comes to the NFL where you basically need to be a superman to be a very good QB. He fails since he never really had the tools and experience can only take you so far.
Going blank like that is often a sign of emotional overrun. The point at which you feel nothing but act from past experience. I'm pretty sure at this point that ZW is past his point of coping with what is going on in his life. Dream job and flunking bad and knowing there is no second act in that job because of how bad he is flunking.
The other thing about that early selection process is that often it is the result of the parents being well connected and demanding of the coach. I've seen this play out in other Little League situations and it is a huge part of the process. It takes a very strong coach with a very good track record to tell the power parents no.
Guys, we’re getting a bit ridiculous and too deep into the details. He was a pretty good college QB at BYU albeit versus a soft schedule his last year there. He didn’t make it all the way there because he was the coaches kid or had power parents. He seems as though he was overdrafted, but some of this stuff is getting a bit wild. It’s OK to just say he’s sucked as a NFL QB so far without analyzing what he was doing when he was 13.
The problem is he’s not getting better, the game is not slowing up. You can’t have such poor fundamentals in the NFL, consistently not see the field, hold the ball too long and show an inability to complete easy passes. Tired of seeing a guy who really does not understand how to play Qb. He completed 55.6% of passes last year… 9 tds - 11 ints… this year he has completed 55.6% of his passes 4 tds - 5 ints. The scary thing is that the Jets are trying to have him do as little as possible and he’s been getting super lucky with int’s getting dropped… If they let him ball, he would have been yanked weeks ago. Not an NFL Qb right now, the needle is trending towards never will be.
I get your intent here but I think the sample size on Zach is large enough to make a credible case that as things currently stand, he's a bust. 20 games into his career and he's got a 55.6% comp%, while only averaging ~180 yards per game, with a 13/16 TD/INT ratio (to be generous his total TD/INT ratio is 18/16). That's just not good. It's objectively awful if we're being truthful. At least Darnold had the crutch that the team around him was terrible for his entire career while he was here. Zach's situation definitely hasn't been perfect but it's a whole lot better than anything Darnold had, even with the injuries we've had this year. This doesn't mean that Zach's career is over but it does mean that he was definitely overdrafted. Which, to be fair, is not his fault but it is what it is at this point.
so I disagree with this…his numbers make him look like EXACTLY what he is and has been since the beginning. What is it that “makes him look worse”? he has been among lowest completion rate QBs in the league since the beginning and it hasn’t improved in any measurable sense…he has missed wide open guys for two years running now on easy dumpoff throws. He’s thrown more picks than TDs since the beginning (don’t forget two picks were dropped by the Pats so the numbers there actually look BETTER than he’s been). Like nothing has changed. The numbers match the eye test pretty damn closely and to me they always have. this myth that he was so much better after the injury is exactly that…just a myth. The numbers did not look any different outside of the lower picks…and that was only because he was throttled down.
This week is the ultimate irony. After the epic debates (wars) between Wilson vs Fields supporters before the 2021 draft, we now go into a game where people are saying, "If Fields plays I think we lose", and "if Wilson plays I think we lose". I guess the early results are in. Somewhere out there Legler is screaming "I told you so" at the clouds.
I think what I wrote makes sense, and it is true. Again, I did say the stats look bad and are bad. When you watch the games, like Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Buffalo, etc, Zach played pretty well. He led some good drives that resulted in rushing TD's. That does not go to his stats, but he was partially responsible. Played solid against Miami too. That is what matters to me. The most recent stuff. I don't care about 2021 at all anymore. However, he could barely do anything in Denver or New England, and that is what concerns me the most. Missing easy passes. Missing open targets. That is the problem. The stats look bad, but I don't think they reflect Zach as much as you say they do.
