Injured Zach Wilson remains optimistic despite the Jets’ history of failure at QB
Zach Wilson hardly looks old enough to be a high school senior, and his NFL career is still in its infancy with only six starts. But the Jets’ rookie quarterback has a bit of an old soul to himself, and it showed in the minutes after he limped to the podium after the game after one of the most humiliating losses in franchise history.
Wilson was fouled by a knee injury in the second quarter of his second game against the Bill Belichicks Patriots, a 54-13 loss Sunday. And even though he had hoped not to miss time in the lineup, he will have to miss up to a month with an injury to the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
He even tried to convince the team’s medical staff to let him get back in the game.
“I just sat and asked, ‘Can I go in again?’ or ‘What can I do?’ said Wilson, recalling the aftermath of the injury. [locker room] on my phone and watched the game and just tried to see everything that was going on. “
It was a nightmare from start to finish, and even Wilson would have been powerless to change the outcome much. The Patriots are simply so much better, and the Jets (1-5) are still inside a rebuild that turns out to be just as painful — and perhaps even more so — than expected. But the baby-face quarterback believes the net result of this torturous exercise in starting from scratch will be worth it.
“You’re moving on,” he said. “We are not going to let this beat us because we are here in the long run and it is a process. As long as we just keep trying to get better for every single match and we keep going to work and guys try not to do too much, all the way around, including us in the quarterback space, just take what they give us, we reach in the end. “
From his lips to the ears of all Jets fans.
They’ve heard that kind of talk before. They have seen quarterbacks try — and fail — to break the curse of the era after Joe Namath. Some have done better than others. Chad Pennington was a resilient quarterback who wanted his team to the playoffs with a cruel determination that led him through his own injury problems. Mark Sanchez rode a great defense and ran for two AFC Championship Games before his career went downhill. Geno Smith once promised to be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever – not just in the history of the Jets, but in NFL history. And you know how it ended.
Sam Darnold tried his best and was gone after three years. The Giants forced him to the bench Sunday for the first time in his race with Carolina.
And now comes Wilson, a uniquely gifted pitcher with an unmistakable charisma and athletic moxie that the Jets now hope will so desperately turn this team into a winner. It’s a long, long way from here to there, and Wilson knows it.
Yet he truly believes that the process will work in the end.
“Every good team that I’ve been on in my life, looking back to when I played Pee Wee football, was always sweet before it got better,” Wilson said. “No one really just goes into situations and that’s the biggest thing from the beginning and I think guys understand that. That it’s a process and we just have to keep getting better and we just have to all be responsible [for] our mistakes and what things we could have done better. As long as we just keep getting better, I think it will take care of itself. “
But as generations of Jets fans – including this generation – have learned the hard way, it does not often take itself to get better. This franchise has not reached a Super Bowl since Namath led the only championship race in franchise history more than half a century ago. And no matter how admirable Wilson’s optimism may be, he struggles with the story as he tries to get them back to the top.
And now another setback, albeit a temporary one. Wilson will be back soon, and journeyman Mike White starts in his absence. White had never thrown an NFL pass before Sunday, and no one expects him to lift the team from the first six games. Not with 5-2 Cincinnati coming home Sunday and the improved Colts four days later on the road.
And for those of you who argue that the Jets should have had a better backup plan in this event, have it. Yes, it would be better to have Nick Foles, who is now a third stringer with the Bears. Or Gardner Minshew, now an Eagles backup after being traded from Jacksonville. But this season should never be about having a skilled backup. It should always be about Wilson, period.
And it will continue to be like that, because when he’s ready to play again in a couple of weeks, he’s doing it. This team is still far from being a playoff competitor and Wilson is far from being an elite NFL quarterback. But it’s his team, and his alone.
No matter what happens to him from here on out, whether his vision of eventual success runs or turns into another Jets quarterback who tried and failed, this is Wilson’s show.
That’s the way it is.
@BobGlauber
Bob Glauber has covered the NFL since 1985 and has been Newsday’s NFL columnist since 1992. Twice elected New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association, he is president of the Pro Football Writers of America and author of “Guts and Genius . “
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