because it’s year three and he is a solidified back up quarterback. The statute of limitations on his draft position expired the minute the front office decided he was no longer a starting quarterback. I mean you can bring it up all you want but all you’re doing is making yourself upset over something that doesn’t matter in 2023. Trying to make him a franchise quarterback was a flop by the team, no denying that. Those days are over now and the front office has basically admitted he’s not a starter. It’s time to start evaluating him as a back up.
I think it’s pretty early for all of that. If he shits himself the rest of the year stuff like this is going to be silly. But yes, he is playing decent enough to win games with an elite defense and good running game because he’s not screwing it up.
I am not sure that is the case. I think they brought in Rodgers to help Zach reach his potential. The Jets have done this over and over (Bring in the shiny toy). Favre, Tebow, Rodgers. To me, it was a way to appease Woody and the fan base and hope Zach rebounds. The timeline has sped up and Zach has the rest of this season to prove he can be a franchise guy. I have been wrong once before so I could be wrong now.
Carr had a bad game last night and yet still completed over 30 passes, something Zach Wilson has never, ever done.
we have to hope he can continue to improve. There’s no doubt he’s been the worst starting QB in the league the last couple of years. The eye test and stats all show that. I get trying to make excuses for it but it is what it is. He sucked. Badly. I think he’s improved a bit over the last 3 games…I see a better completion rate and I see fewer bonehead plays, fewer picks, etc. He still leaves a lot on the table though and he still has trouble sustaining drives and he has thrown only 4 TDs on the year. By no measure is that good QB play. It just isn’t. That being said, he’s our guy this year until Rodgers comes back, so we have to hope he can continue to improve…get a better grasp on the offense, see the field better, go through his progressions faster, make good decisions, and start scoring points. If he can improve there, then great! If he continues to play like he’s played so far the last 3 games, then to me that’s what he is…a decent enough backup QB that you have to game plan around and hope you can win with defense and special teams. That’s what he’s been. Sad that that low bar is an improvement from what he was but that’s where he’s at. If this is his ceiling, then fine, we wasted the 2nd overall pick on a fair mediocre backup QB. Sucks, because it means we still have to go find a real QB to take over after Rodgers retires, but we can deal with that later. I hope he can do it…
I understand your confusion. You had pretty much written Zach off, but your eyes see the improvement. He's still a work in progress, so it's hard to completely believe in him. Especially when his stats have been hurt by dropped passes, dumb penalties, and Hackett's conservative and predictable play calling. I wouldn't say that we were "lucky" to beat the Bills and Eagles. We had to overcome what both those teams and the referees threw at us. We won in spite of the referees and bad calls. Take away the bad calls, and as you said, the team could be undefeated at this point or only have one loss. You're not alone being in the hopeful but extremely nervous category. The D started the season poorly, but are really coming on and that's a real sign of hope, especially since we beat the Eagles for the first time ever without Sauce, Reed, AVT, and then lost MCII during the game. Zach is definitely playing better, reading Ds better, making better decisions, getting the ball out quicker, his accuracy is definitely improved, and he's showing the influence of Rodgers. Receivers have to stop dropping passes and run the right routes, the OL has to do a better job of pass protection (which will be difficult with both AVT and Tippman out), and Hackett has to do a much better job of play calling. He is going to have to open up the offense at some point. He is going to have to stop being so predictable and conservative running the ball on 1st and 2nd downs and then passing on 3rd and long. He needs to call more PA passes for Zach and more rollouts. He needs to scrap the naked bootlegs towards the other team's best pass rusher. Unless the OL improves greatly and proves that it can give Zach time, long-developing plays need to be scrapped. There need to be more screens, draw plays, quick outs to the sidelines that Rodgers does, quick slants, end arounds, and gadget plays/flea flickers to keep the opposing D off balance. Then we might be able to truly put teams away and there be no doubt whether luck was involved or who the better team is, and then we might just wrap up that playoff spot.
I think that if he received competent coaching his first two seasons, had an OC who had a clue how to handle a rookie QB, had some quality players around him his rookie season, and the offense he was playing in was more akin to what he played in at BYU, then he would be on his way well up the mountain. He didn't have any of those things, so he is where he is. We should just be thankful, that the Jets realized their mistake, took real steps to correct that mistake, and that Zach is responding. He could have totally gone into a shell or he could have been a diva, trashed the organization and demanded a trade. I think he has been more frustrated and suffered a great deal more than any of us. He wants to play at a high level. He expects that of himself. He wanted to help take the team to glory, but he wasn't put in a position in which he could succeed until this season.
I disagree that the team has given up on him becoming a FQB. If that were the case, Zach wouldn't be playing right now. Boyle, Simien, or some other QB would be starting for the Jets now. They're not going to put their season on the line for a QB whose ceiling is backup. Once Rodgers went down, they would have traded for another QB if they didn't still believe in Zach.
Why? Expectation is always relative to draft position, for good reason. We wouldn't be having this debate if we had drafted Wilson in the 4th round. Wilson has been a big letdown relative to his draft position, there is no doubt about that to anyone looking at his career objectively. Most guys who start their careers as Wilson has never become good, that's just a fact. I'm not saying there's no chance, but it's really unlikely at this point. Not my opinion, that's what the data says.
Im not saying he’s a solidified backup as in he’s now forever a solid backup QB. I’m saying his role is solidified. His status won’t go beyond backup QB. He’s not to be looked at as a starter anymore.
there are barely any players the fanbase likes. anyone who isn't top 5 at their position is a POS in most fans eyes. they think it's madden where you can have 99s at every position.
He’s not playing better than a backup. A backup is expected to come in and hold the fort and try not to lose games. That’s the epitome of what Zach is doing. I fully agree he has improved, but he’s not good at all yet. He’s managed to play to not be a liability. That’s massive improvement over last year, but it’s still not good. That’s all. He obviously has time still and hopefully he continues to improve. But up until this year he played like a corpse, right now he has a pulse/.
People can always get worse at everything. We both know that’s a ridiculous statement. No one’s asking you to; there’s hoping you stop constantly shitting on him We’ve had below minimum about 17 of the last 20 years yet I don’t think anyone here thinks ZW is having an all-pro year. Do you think people think he’s having an all pro year? Is that why you need to point it out? Another ridiculous statement. Tyrod wasn’t good enough to even see the field on his rookie contract and Geno had 25 rds and 34 ints under his rookie contract and was 12-21 as a starter…. But that wasn’t the proposal, it was “current QB” as in Russell now not when he was good Tannehill now as he’s on his last leg. Your post is what the kids nowadays call “rage bait”. Bad assumptions and aggressive language designed for the reader to react instead of think. Apparently social media if filled with it.
Yeah I would not have allowed him to get on the field for the KC game. And I'm not sure how the conclusion can be drawn that we weren't lucky to get wins against the Bills and Eagles. Being +4 on turnovers isn't usually something you can count on especially against top teams. And our offense needed all of them. This is why without even making it about Zach I'd feel a lot better if I saw the Jets peel off a few "normal" wins over the coming weeks. Its good being 3-3 all things considered but its been a bit of a cluster**** to get there.
The way we've won over the last two weeks with Zach reminds me a lot of how we won with Sanchez. Good D, running game steps up(ok maybe not so much last week), and QB doesn't make costly decisions. This might get us some wins during the season, but I'll continue to believe there's a limited ceiling for the team until we win a few games because of Zach.
