My optimism continues to consume me but I should be up front about things. Zach Wilson did NOT have as impressive a rookie season as I thought he would. He played better in the last 6 games, no doubt, but it was NOT as impressive as what I thought it would look like.
Now there are others factors that play into that. Namely, the CS, the OC, the health of the team, etc. so on and so forth. Mike Lafleur got better after he started calling plays from the booth. The defense and Jeff Ulbrich started to tighten up a little at the end of the season as well. They were still BAD by any objective measure. About last in every major category. Zach and the defense got better despite the team being ripped to shreds with injuries everywhere. If in the NFL the ONLY thing that mattered was the "war of attrition" the Jets failed out of the first grade.
With all that said, and truly it's still early, Zach Wilson is very up and down. I admire his ability to forget the last play and move on and he doesn't seem to repeat the same rookie mistakes. However, the overall performance is very sporadic. I'd also much rather him make these mistakes now than in games that count.
With that said he has a substantial amount more talent than he's probably ever played with in his life. Let's be clear, Douglas has done an excellent job stocking the team with talent. Zach MUST start getting it between the ears or soon enough we're going to see Joe Flacco leading this team. In the first team practice open to the public, Zach was 5 for 11 1 TD & 2 INT. One pick, in the end zone was returned 100 yards by DJ Reed.
I certainly haven't lost patience in the process, but just to reiterate, there are NO excuses for Zach this season. None. He must leave Jets fans feeling encouraged by the end of the season. I don't think that means playoffs. I don't think the Jets are good enough right now. But an approximately .500 record, say 8-9 would mean real progress. Playing meaningful football with playoff implications in December? That would mean something. And honestly that's the feeling of most Jets fans right now.
Now there are others factors that play into that. Namely, the CS, the OC, the health of the team, etc. so on and so forth. Mike Lafleur got better after he started calling plays from the booth. The defense and Jeff Ulbrich started to tighten up a little at the end of the season as well. They were still BAD by any objective measure. About last in every major category. Zach and the defense got better despite the team being ripped to shreds with injuries everywhere. If in the NFL the ONLY thing that mattered was the "war of attrition" the Jets failed out of the first grade.
With all that said, and truly it's still early, Zach Wilson is very up and down. I admire his ability to forget the last play and move on and he doesn't seem to repeat the same rookie mistakes. However, the overall performance is very sporadic. I'd also much rather him make these mistakes now than in games that count.
With that said he has a substantial amount more talent than he's probably ever played with in his life. Let's be clear, Douglas has done an excellent job stocking the team with talent. Zach MUST start getting it between the ears or soon enough we're going to see Joe Flacco leading this team. In the first team practice open to the public, Zach was 5 for 11 1 TD & 2 INT. One pick, in the end zone was returned 100 yards by DJ Reed.
I certainly haven't lost patience in the process, but just to reiterate, there are NO excuses for Zach this season. None. He must leave Jets fans feeling encouraged by the end of the season. I don't think that means playoffs. I don't think the Jets are good enough right now. But an approximately .500 record, say 8-9 would mean real progress. Playing meaningful football with playoff implications in December? That would mean something. And honestly that's the feeling of most Jets fans right now.