How many great players versus either shitty players or non-players are great coaches or great talent evaluators in the league?
Maybe Mike White can share the contact information for the personal coach he’s using on the side with Zach Wilson.
This dude was generous even. There were a few of us that were much harsher on him before he was drafted. Either way, dude shouldn't have been drafted. I'm so convinced of It. Again though.. Like always. I hope I'm wrong and the light bulb comes on. Nothing suggests It will though.
It's funny you speak of denial. I don't think I've ever seen NYJ fans hold on so tight to a QB that hasn't even been better than Sam Darnold or Mark Sanchez to this point In their career. All of these theories and excuses. It's wild.
Another good review by Nania of Zach's Lions game: https://jetsxfactor.com/2022/12/20/ny-jets-zach-wilson-grade-detroit-lions/ Overall, lots of good, but bad far outweighs the good, lots of missed opportunities according to him. He things overall a poor outing by Zach. He does bring up a lot of plays that could have been made, and we did score fewest points of anyone against Detroit on the road, while they tried to stack the box to stop running game, so there is that. Still, lots of big plays. I would say perhaps below average, but not poor.
So you are In the building? You know what level of coaching he Is getting? If so, what are the coaches lacking In terms of his development? Super cool we have the inside scoop on this from a fellow NYJ fan. Do tell?
You're right he could have slid to end the play and allow Saleh to call the timeout. Young player. he'll learn the situational awareness.
The ability to quickly process all that information can't really be taught, but it can be learned - by repetition in game situations. I do believe some of it is "innate" - guys have a natural feel for the game that enables them to anticipate things faster than others. I know I'll get crucified for saying this but I believe Zach has this innate feel for the game - I saw it when he played at BYU. But it's been overridden by his struggles to master the rest of the things he needs to, as well as being asked to change his style of play to more discipline pocket passer - it's caused him to become more of a "thinker" than relying on his instincts which I believe are good. This is why I wish MLF would change his scheme for Zach and dial up more plays that use this natural ability he has. If he does I think we'll see a much better version of ZW.
Guess we gonna go down with the sunken ship. I mean at this point I would rather give Streveler a chance to see what he can do and use his legs since he can allude pressure better with his legs from what I saw in preseason. But nope here comes back ZW to start and shit the bed again amazing!
I'm of the belief that the Jets did NOT develop MW at all. White developed himself. At this point I have yet to see where the Jets have successfully developed ANY QB - they either came to the Jets already developed or they learned under "trial by fire", which is a stupid way to handle the most valuable asset on the team. Zach Wilson needed (needs) more hands on coaching than he's gotten from the Jets. He should take a page from Josh Allen's book and hire his own coach in the offseason to make up for this. And whatever the Jets have tried to do with him hasn't been effective. If they believe they've done everything they can and he's still not getting it, I expect they'll look to dump him.
Lack of anticipation is not a flaw you can work on. You either have it or you don't. Many, many reps with your guys can make the problem less noticeable but it is still likely to be a problem. This particular flaw drives WR's crazy because they make a great play to get open and the ball is either late or goes to somebody else because the QB didn't read the developing play correctly. One solution that might fix things is to go to the kind of offense the Pats run, where the route trees all intersect and the only question is which receiver is going to be the one at the anticipated spot. You can have 3 or 4 receivers all running routes in that system and the ball is going to go on one vector with the only question being whether it is going to be short or mid range and who the receiver at the spot is going to be. The vector changes slightly on every play depending on how the QB reads the pre-snap and what adjustments he calls for but basically every receiver is either going to be clearing defenders away from the vector or winding up on it somewhere down the field. This is where Brady's tremendously accurate and quick release was developed over time. He knew where the ball was going about 80% of the time as he took the snap. The only question was whether it was going to be Edelman or Gronkowski on the short seam or the outside receiver a bit deeper downfield. The receivers don't run a completely predictable route from the snap. Their actions are all predicated on where their guy is as he closes or what the open spot in the zone is likely to be. However due to the way the routes interact there will always be somebody available shorter or longer on that vector and the QB just needs to read the defenders and throw the ball to the right spot because somebody is going to be there to catch it.
I forget which QB guru said this, but it is in line with what you are saying here: anticipation and spacial awareness is a natural instinct that can't be taught. It's a certain part of the brain that is spacial and how space relates to time. Kind of like how Mathematica comes naturally to some and not others.. . I'm not saying I believe this or that it's true, but some out there do. Seems to make sense. And if you look at it that way, then no it is crystal clear that ZW does not have it and never will.
What would some examples be? His best plays seem to be when things break down a little bit and/or he rolls out and heaves it. Or the ones where he does a quick drop and/or designed fake to the RB and then just one read rips it to a slanting receiver. MLF usually seems to call between 1 and 3 of those per game. If somebody took the time to seperate those two types of plays out to analyze stats I'm assuming his #'s would be top notch for those and pretty much everything else, when the total package is already hovering around league-worst I'm assuming would be just appallingly bad. I'm not sure how many of those plays can be called and run before your going to the well too often and the defense figures it out. I'm no NFL offensive guru but my casual fan observation is and has been for a long time now that rectifying this problem needs to come more from Zach making more quick, proper, and confident decisions and executing the plays that are run rather than different plays being called. I actually agree that he has a good feel for the game and is a heads up football player. Even the time he fumbled while completely upside down and the ball was too far to grab properly he had the presence of mind ( while airborne and upside down) to try to knock it out of bounds against Denver. Stuff like that is impressive.
Sorry, but you don't make throws downfield 50 yards across your body to a receiver if you don't possess this trait. This is not Zach's problem. Zach has been asked to change his natural game to be a pocket passer, and he's struggled with that. And as he's struggled his confidence has dropped so now he's thinking more than reacting, and that produces worse results which leads to more thinking trying to overcome that. Being a pocket passer also requires better, more consistent footwork which he hasn't developed to the point where he doesn't have to think about it. The thinking slows his processing speed down and eats up his protection time and then he's under more pressure and everything else falls apart. This was - or should've been - known to the Jets when they drafted him and they should not have thrown him out there knowing he needed to learn/acquire these aspects. That's water under the bridge at this point. But LaFleur could change the offense to better suit what Zach can do now, and then plan on working with him to get him to learn how to be a pocket passer over time.
Bill Walsh said it. "Good passing involves accuracy, timing and throwing the ball with enough touch so that it's catchable, and having a great sense of anticipation. Some guys have it and some never will. It's hard to instill it in those that lack it because it's not their fault."
