I watched the games with context in mind. I don't blame Wilson for playing badly against Buffalo when we were missing 7 starters on offense. Yes, our receivers dropped too many passes, but if you look up the actual data then it wasn't so bad that it excuses how bad Wilson's numbers were: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2021/passing_advanced.htm The league average for dropped passes is about 5%. Our receivers dropped 6.8%. With a league-average drop rate Wilson's completion would've improved from 55% to an incredible 57%. Wow! Our OL was about league average, or slightly below league average. If you look at the link above, you'll also see a stat for inaccurate pass %, which Wilson led the league in. Do you think it's maybe possible that our receivers would've dropped less balls if the passes being thrown to them had been more accurate? How's that for context? Any other excuses?
I'm just hoping that Zach dumps that stupid headband thing... What does he think... that he's an anime character?
Book me down for the bolded, please. I have to be slightly amazed he was that close to the OROY award, Chase would have been utterly robbed if not given to him.
Way better is a big stretch. Nobody said Mac did not have a good rookie year but way better? I think Mac will end up a solid NFL starter Andy Dalto type. Zach will be great or bust. I think great, he just makes too many wow throws. I could be wrong it did happen once before.
I agree 100% I think Jones did an excellent job of coming close to his ceiling in his rookie year. Kudos to him and the NE staff. I just don't see him getting much better and that why I said I would take Wilson any day over Jones. Guys like Angles hear what they want to hear. Wilson has way more talent than Jones and I'd rather take the gamble on Wilson than settle for Jones.
I'm sure you'll recall that this was basically the exact line of thinking that was used to defend Darnold for 3 years despite mountains of evidence he was bad, right? "He has all the tools, he can make all the throws." While true, that's a tiny part of being a good QB. Mac Jones has way less tools and is currently a way better QB, yes, way better. Stats aren't everything but this is the evidence we have on Jones and Wilson so far: Jones 68% completion 7.3 Y/A 22 TDs 13 INTs Wilson 56% completion 6.1 Y/A 9 TDs 11 INTs Jones also averaged a higher number of air yards per attempt, so this narrative that Wilson was pushing the ball downfield while Jones was dinking and dunking is absolutely false. Regarding the Dalton thing - Jones' rookie stats roughly resemble Dalton's best season ever. Having said all that, I do have some faith Wilson will improve. By all accounts he's honest with himself about his weaknesses unlike Darnold.
It would great if we could reproduce the exact same situation but with the QBs switched. But we can't.
The problem with Darnold is that he never improved. When asked to win a game for them Mac Jones just couldn't do it. As I said Darnold had a fine rookie season but he does not have half the arm Zach has and Zach's footwork is already better. It is not the same excuses unless we keep using the excuses for three years. Zach has another advantage of having the same coaching staff for two years in row and hopefully longer. You like to fire coaches quickly but the staff should get three years no matter what. If you watched the games and did not think Zach improved I am not sure what to say. He played great the first half of Philly, he played great in Tampa and played won the game in Jacksonville and Tennesee. You just look at Stats and as the season gets farther away you can't get over them. Stats without context are just lies. Go back and watch the games or at least the throws Zach has made and you will feel better. His stats are not just in him but the horrible team around him most of the season. No QB will look good especially a rookie with the worst defense in the league. In Philly the Jets had one drive in third quarter. Before you blame Zach every team has three and outs well unless they played the Jets last season.
Context doesn't = stats. Context is "they were missing 7 starters on offense" against Buffalo. Context he was a rookie playing for a rookie OC and HC. Context is his receivers DID drop a lot of passes. Context is that he wasn't throwing to the same guys consistently. And I've noted numerous times that Zach does need to sharpen his accuracy, but still most of his passes were catchable by decent NFL receivers. And on that note, did you watch the video that Cval posted earlier about the 5 best throws Zach had? Those were all special throws that not many QBs would even attempt, let alone complete, and wouldn't have been completions except of pinpoint accuracy. So while I and others who support Zach have readily admitted his problems, you and his detractors never seem to acknowledge the upside and things that he's done well. You keep wanting to boil it down to statistics which, without context are meaningless. As Mark Twain said: "There are three kinds of lies: lies; damnable lies; and statistics". You want to say "The jury's out on Wilson until he shows he can do better on the field"? Fine. I've got no problem with that, but that's not what you're saying.
Context matters. Please take into account: 1. During the 1st 5 games the OL was not ready and had not practiced together as much of the OL was hurt and playing a new system. By the time the OL improved in game 4 or 5 Wilson had lost his confidence from constantly running for his life. 2. When Wilson came back again he did not have an OL as Fant got injured, Mcgovern got injured, AVT missed a game. Again he was running for his life as the line was banged up. 3. Wilson never had any skill players. To start the season Moore just came off a Quad injury and missed the entire pre-season and when he did play he was the third or 4th option and with the OL ZW was never going to be able to get enough time to get to the 3rd option, Carter was not ready and Davis was dropping everything. When Zach came back Moore, Davis and Carter got injured. Jeff Smith took the most WR snaps one game, Cole the most another game. One game he only had 2 or 3 other offensive starters. 4. According to PFF Zach Wilson played the hardest defensive schedule of any QB in the NFL. 5. The Jets had the worst defense in football. The Jets would routinely be behind before Zach would ever throw a pass and one game they were down 14 before his 1st pass. They call a defense the best asset a young QB can have and I would call a defense like ours a career killer. 6. Jet WRs led the league on drop percentage. Much of ZW's early problems were caused by trying to do too much because he was running for his life from game 1 to game 17. No QB had it worse. No QB had a worse supporting cast, no QB had worse protection, no QB had a worse defense, no QB had to play from behind so often, no team had more missed time with injuries, no team was younger and no QB played harder defenses than Zach Wilson. Does that give Zach a pass? No, but it puts things in context. No QB could have succeeded in that environment. There are legitimate issues and unanswered questions about Zach in regards to his accuracy, his mechanics, how he responds to adversity and what happened to him when he lost his confidence. But given, the situation he was in Iast year I think it was impossible to judge him in such an impossible situation. The OL could not block from week 1 and he was running for his life. He tried to do too much and do everything by himself outside the structure of the offense. This worked well against Carolina and Tennessee where he was the best player on the team both games and single handily almost won both games. But playing outside the structure of the offense while not being able to make the routine plays is going to end badly every time. He was the worst player on the field in 2 of his other games before injury. But, what was jarring to me was he lost his confidence and when he lost his confidence every part of his game collapsed, his decision making, his mechanics, his accuracy, his pocket presence. He became very bad. Normally when a young QB loses their confidence they are done and never get it back. Playing QB is hard. Most young QBs will fail especially on a bad team. But, what I find hopeful is he was able to regroup during the injury, regain his confidence, fix some of his mechanics, improve his accuracy, regain his pocket presence, speed up his decision making. It is rare that a young QB can regain confidence what is even more encouraging is his late season success came from playing well within the structure of the offense, not from making wild plays when things break down. It is hard to say what we have in Zach. I think the odds are still against him. He had a really bad stretch but he showed a lot of resiliency and heart but he has a lot to work on. He needs to learn to trust his reads and get the ball out on time and his mechanics need a lot of work. You can't throw accurately as a QB, and point your left foot away from the target. But, he also played the end of the year with pretty much no other healthy players, no skill players and no OL and carried the team by himself. The Jets should never have been able to compete with JAX only having 5 or 6 starters, or with TB and hang with Buffalo for 3 quarters with no players. I will not tell people ZW is going to be great or even good. I think again the odds are against him but I will not judge him on the impossible situation he was in last year. He suffered mentally which worries me but then he showed impressive mental strength. Over all he fared better than I think anyone could have expected in such an environment. His fate IMO will depend on how well the rest of the team grows around him. If the defense can keep us in games, the OL can protect him and the WRs are able to create separation against our divisions press coverage maybe he can survive long enough to reach some of his potential. That seems like a lot of ifs for a lifelong Jets fan.
I watched every single game during the season and my thoughts have been consistent. Stats are part of the equation, but I watch every game very closely as well. You're mischaracterizing how I view the games. I literally cited our drop % and how it compared to the league average drop %, which shows that even if our receivers had dropped a league average # of balls Wilson would've still had the worst completion % in the NFL. Sure, most of Zach's throws were catchable, but he also had the highest % of uncatchable throws of any QB as well. If you're going to cite how inconsistent his receivers were I don't know how you can take issue with me correcting for that and showing he was still bad. I did watch the video of the 5 best throws he had, but that means a lot less to me than the averages of all of his throws across the entire season. How would you feel if I showed you a video of 5 bad throws Wilson made and tried to act like that told the story of his entire season? That's what you're doing but in reverse. I don't know how you could have watched the games and be surprised at any of these numbers. Wilson was missing an insane number of easy throws during the vast majority of the season. This isn't a case of the stats saying one thing and the eye test saying another. Wilson has a lot of talent, if you'll recall I was one of the main proponents here of drafting him. I don't know why you're acting like I don't think that's the case.
You cannot draw that conclusion from just that stat. Again, context matters. Success breeds success, failure breeds failure. If his receivers don't drop those balls, drives are sustained, perhaps points scored, at a minimum confidence is increased, which tends to increase success. It's not a straight line formula. You know this, or you should, having watched enough sporting events. Uh, that's pretty much what some here have done actually, taking a couple of times that he dirted the ball or sky'd it, and then go on to say: "Well he can't even make the short easy throws, and he's inaccurate". Where is the proof of that claim? It's false, an exaggeration, plain and simple. I and others have repeatedly acknowledged that he needs to improve his accuracy, but that's far different than saying he was "...missing an insane number of easy throws during the vast majority of the season." Because all of your posts are focused on the negatives while ignoring the positives, and especially ignoring the context in which he played. I get it. You don't believe he'll be a good QB, let alone a FQB. That's your right as a fan. But at least consider the entire picture in making your judgment.
@Bills Over Jets You should have the right to your handle. Funny but 10 years ago I never recalled your chosen handle being a problem nor do I remember you being pressured to change your handle...but then, that was back then.... Whatever, you should have the right to your own chosen handle Bills Over Jets... .
yet you keep giving me empty stats. I watch the games. I know what kind of offense they ran and what they asked him to do. But keep giving me BS stats that make Jones look like he did something amazing last year. Yet he didn’t lmao unreal! Agree to disagree that’s fine but your stats not helping the argument
Irrelevant. Irrelevant. Irrelevant. Any guy who has ever played in the NFL is irrelevant to the question of Wilson's accuracy. 55% says accuracy is a problem. Were there injuries and dropped passes? Sure there were - that's part of the game. You can believe those problems are behind Wilson if you choose to, I'll wait and see what he does in 2022 before claiming he's a different player. It's up to him.
