One thing I haven’t seen written by any writer is the fact that the NFL is a win now with your QB still on his rookie deal. Zach’s total lack of any improvement will put the Jets in a position of whoever the dependable starting qb is this team will start losing valuable pieces due to salary cap restraints. You can’t pay everybody on their second deal. Q, Sauce, Etc
Thanks for pointing out the pick on the Myers TD, ridiculous non-call.
I agree w/ your assessment, including Zach's regression. I just don't understand it. He's a football junkie and a bright kid. The game yesterday looked as though he'd never played before.
Why did jeff Smith get reps over Mims/Moore, esp in crunch time? Ludicrous.
Watch the 49ers run the WCO. Our offense looks nothing like it...no drags across the middle, no multiple receiver waggles, no naked bootlegs. What exactly are we running?
I’m a big fan of your work David, and I understand the fanbase’s general level of frustration with Zach Wilson. However, I would love for your analysis tomorrow to be more than sophisticated than the “he sucks” type of analysis we are seeing all over the Internet. This franchise has not developed a QB since Chad Pennington, and Michael Nania has discussed stats that when Wilson, has not been pressured, he has been good compared to other starters. I think it is 1) far too early to give up on a QB this early in to his career, 2) his YPA has significantly improved, 3) he has stopped missing all the easy screen passes last year, and 4) his athleticism is actually hurting him right now because he tries to do far to much with plays that should just be sacks.
I was at the game and when MC II intercepted that ball before the half and ran it in for a pick 6 the crowd and team erupted! I tried to high five the guy behind me and he pointed to the flag. The atmosphere in the stadium changed to negativity. The team is just not good enough (yet) to overcome that. I didn't think the JFM hit was bad and after looking at it he tried to let up and put his hands up in the air. The Officials have a tough job calling the penalties because of the speed of the game but I disagree with that one.
ZWs 3 interceptions: He sailed one above the receiver ( Bad throw ), He tried to force a throw to a receiver with 4 Patriots surrounding the receiver ( Bad decision ), He tried to throw the ball out of bounds and it didn't make it out ( Bad throw ). Our O line is barely holding up against the pass rush. The injuries have hurt us bad on the O line. Bottom line: ZW does not do well under pressure and our O line isn't the same with all the injuries ( Becton out, Fant out, AVT out, Max Mitchell out, Dwayne Brown playing hurt ). The O line is decimated. Lets not forget we signed Remmers and Ogbuehi off the street. Ogbuehi is now the starting RT.
Booth LaFleur is mixing up the plays and we got some success when the players executed. Take away ZW's mistakes and the game would have been closer. Garrett Wilson is a stud. I am perplexed with the lack of plays for Elijah Moore.
Patriot ST kicked our ST's azzes. Nick Folk nailed all of his FGs, the Pats punted well, and covered the kickoffs to perfection keeping Cheerios from getting to the 25 on 2 or 3 occasions. Greg the leg missed an important FG.
It would have been nice to get a W and it's frustrating to see the team loose with mental errors and mistakes. You can't overcome them when playing the Pats.
Good stuff David, I agree with pretty much all the points your raise, however in the interest of balance it would have been nice to put the stat up when he’s not under duress (clean pocket) where he ranks.
Plenty of good QBs in this league have had their bumps and lumps along the way and they aren’t all made the same with different capacities.
Think back to pre draft of ZW, MLF didn’t actually want a new QB and instead wanted Darnold, as did Salah if my memory serves me. So there is a possibility that ZW may not be the first fit they are looking for. Problem is, he ia here and MLF has to learn to use him correctly, which I think at times he hasn’t . To add to your point in the Pats game, he came away from the run game which at that point was working , contrary to what some fans may think. Then the entire load was put onto ZW back, against a HOF HC and a red hot secondary. I’m not making excuses honest!! ;). Zach made some absolutely terrible decisions, but outside of those picks , I thought had a decent enough game where we stood a chance.
The loss of Greg Knapp (for me) is now immense and I would personally be looking to replace Rob Calabrese as clearly it’s not working.
People saying we are ruining another QB have every right to feel that way, but this isn’t the Gase era where we just watched a decent QB get ruined before our eyes, Salah appears to be showing good signs of being a decent HC and I’m sure he will be turning over rocks to find the answer with Zach.
Once Zach figures it out, because he will, he’s going to be a very good QB. Yep he has a long way to go but if we’re patient it will pay off.
I’m sick to death of getting the next ‘big thing ‘ in and everyone goes out and buys his jersey and with 18 games on the clock are now throwing them away. We have the best and worst fans in the NFL.
The comments on Twitter border hysteria , some of these guys have been fans for less than a decade , try 30+. So don’t talk to me about patience after only 18 games.
We can still have a really good OL again, when healthy.
Brown and Tomlinson are proven pro bowl talent. Laken has played in this system. Why aren't they dominating? Health? Age? Chemistry?
I'd like your thoughts.
Then on the right side, is Fant the key to our season?
If Fant plays RT at the level he played LT last year, our pass protection gets way better on the edge. He was so good.
He has a lot to prove. Needs to prove last year wasn't an abberation.
J-Rob is likely better on blitz pickup than MC so that'll help. And Corey Davis returning will be big for the outside runs. We might have the pieces in house.
If those pieces work together after the bye week, we're a good offense again. Then MLF can build a plan around his new RB pair, integrate Moore into the offense. Keep trying to Mims so we get value out of his talent. Use Uzomah so he's a receiving threat too
1) even after this game and assuming we lose in Buffalo, we have a winning record at 5-4, with a much easier schedule.
2) Fant/Mitchell comes back after the buy week, a huge upgrade. It's also 1 more week to get healthy for Brown. ZW is WAY better with good pass protection.
3) bye week is the perfect time for us to regroup for the 2nd half. MLF can scheme up plans for current personnel for 2H. Give J-Rob a week to learn the playbook. Develop chemistry for our 5 OL, and also ZW to receivers.
4) as bad as the Pats loss feels, we easily could still put together some wins in the 2nd half and make the wildcard. We're still relevant at Halloween, and if we can get the OL right, this is a strong roster
The MLF offense requires an above average OL performance and we're not getting it. ZW requires it too, at this stage of his development.
The OL seemed terrible. ZW was under duress, and running game didn't seem to have any holes. I'd like to learn more on where we're failing and how to improve.
By player - hoping it was mostly our RT because he's about to be replaced but I don't think that's the case. How are our 2 pro bowl OL on the left side doing? Does Brown seem like he's limping towards the bye week when he can get healthy? We're about to get Fant back, which is exciting based his 2021 production but he was a liability earlier this year.
It felt like we abandoned the run too soon, but also felt like nothing was working on the ground.
Did MLF do the things needed to slow down Judon and the pass rush? Chipping them with TE. Running screen passes and draws to take advantage of their aggressiveness?
Good post game write up and probably written with the "open wound" still bleeding. Wilson should have benched after the 3rd (maybe even the 2nd) pick. Not so much to see White but to make him accountable. I'm not convinved Salah makes his players accountable (JFL repeat offender). Maybe it is time to bench him for a game and the bye. Some reporters and fans are saying "The QB is holding the team back". I'm not convinced of that yet but its getting close. Pretty close to saying the Jets may have blown the 2nd and 3rd picks of the drafts on QBs that cant play in the NFL. The JFM penality may have been season changing. Can somone tell me why 5-3 feels like 1 & 7 ?
Sad to say but we have to facr that Zack is not the answer. It is so frustrating because our GM and staff have put together such a terrific supporting cast albeit one that the injury bug can still disrupt.
I hate the idea that for the reasons you and the first respondent so rightly cited, this is very likely going to mean again starting over and when, like me, you have been a Jets fan since before they were the Jets (and a high school classmate of Matt Snell), I don't know how many more rebuilding I have left.
One thing I haven’t seen written by any writer is the fact that the NFL is a win now with your QB still on his rookie deal. Zach’s total lack of any improvement will put the Jets in a position of whoever the dependable starting qb is this team will start losing valuable pieces due to salary cap restraints. You can’t pay everybody on their second deal. Q, Sauce, Etc
Great article DWH.
Thanks for pointing out the pick on the Myers TD, ridiculous non-call.
I agree w/ your assessment, including Zach's regression. I just don't understand it. He's a football junkie and a bright kid. The game yesterday looked as though he'd never played before.
Why did jeff Smith get reps over Mims/Moore, esp in crunch time? Ludicrous.
Watch the 49ers run the WCO. Our offense looks nothing like it...no drags across the middle, no multiple receiver waggles, no naked bootlegs. What exactly are we running?
I’m a big fan of your work David, and I understand the fanbase’s general level of frustration with Zach Wilson. However, I would love for your analysis tomorrow to be more than sophisticated than the “he sucks” type of analysis we are seeing all over the Internet. This franchise has not developed a QB since Chad Pennington, and Michael Nania has discussed stats that when Wilson, has not been pressured, he has been good compared to other starters. I think it is 1) far too early to give up on a QB this early in to his career, 2) his YPA has significantly improved, 3) he has stopped missing all the easy screen passes last year, and 4) his athleticism is actually hurting him right now because he tries to do far to much with plays that should just be sacks.
I was at the game and when MC II intercepted that ball before the half and ran it in for a pick 6 the crowd and team erupted! I tried to high five the guy behind me and he pointed to the flag. The atmosphere in the stadium changed to negativity. The team is just not good enough (yet) to overcome that. I didn't think the JFM hit was bad and after looking at it he tried to let up and put his hands up in the air. The Officials have a tough job calling the penalties because of the speed of the game but I disagree with that one.
ZWs 3 interceptions: He sailed one above the receiver ( Bad throw ), He tried to force a throw to a receiver with 4 Patriots surrounding the receiver ( Bad decision ), He tried to throw the ball out of bounds and it didn't make it out ( Bad throw ). Our O line is barely holding up against the pass rush. The injuries have hurt us bad on the O line. Bottom line: ZW does not do well under pressure and our O line isn't the same with all the injuries ( Becton out, Fant out, AVT out, Max Mitchell out, Dwayne Brown playing hurt ). The O line is decimated. Lets not forget we signed Remmers and Ogbuehi off the street. Ogbuehi is now the starting RT.
Booth LaFleur is mixing up the plays and we got some success when the players executed. Take away ZW's mistakes and the game would have been closer. Garrett Wilson is a stud. I am perplexed with the lack of plays for Elijah Moore.
Patriot ST kicked our ST's azzes. Nick Folk nailed all of his FGs, the Pats punted well, and covered the kickoffs to perfection keeping Cheerios from getting to the 25 on 2 or 3 occasions. Greg the leg missed an important FG.
It would have been nice to get a W and it's frustrating to see the team loose with mental errors and mistakes. You can't overcome them when playing the Pats.
Good stuff David, I agree with pretty much all the points your raise, however in the interest of balance it would have been nice to put the stat up when he’s not under duress (clean pocket) where he ranks.
Plenty of good QBs in this league have had their bumps and lumps along the way and they aren’t all made the same with different capacities.
Think back to pre draft of ZW, MLF didn’t actually want a new QB and instead wanted Darnold, as did Salah if my memory serves me. So there is a possibility that ZW may not be the first fit they are looking for. Problem is, he ia here and MLF has to learn to use him correctly, which I think at times he hasn’t . To add to your point in the Pats game, he came away from the run game which at that point was working , contrary to what some fans may think. Then the entire load was put onto ZW back, against a HOF HC and a red hot secondary. I’m not making excuses honest!! ;). Zach made some absolutely terrible decisions, but outside of those picks , I thought had a decent enough game where we stood a chance.
The loss of Greg Knapp (for me) is now immense and I would personally be looking to replace Rob Calabrese as clearly it’s not working.
People saying we are ruining another QB have every right to feel that way, but this isn’t the Gase era where we just watched a decent QB get ruined before our eyes, Salah appears to be showing good signs of being a decent HC and I’m sure he will be turning over rocks to find the answer with Zach.
Once Zach figures it out, because he will, he’s going to be a very good QB. Yep he has a long way to go but if we’re patient it will pay off.
I’m sick to death of getting the next ‘big thing ‘ in and everyone goes out and buys his jersey and with 18 games on the clock are now throwing them away. We have the best and worst fans in the NFL.
The comments on Twitter border hysteria , some of these guys have been fans for less than a decade , try 30+. So don’t talk to me about patience after only 18 games.
I might draw your attention to this post …
https://twitter.com/jgrayjets/status/1587289195038523392?s=46&t=yyS49rHYtJ3CrkrMERpUFA
Great work as always David
We can still have a really good OL again, when healthy.
Brown and Tomlinson are proven pro bowl talent. Laken has played in this system. Why aren't they dominating? Health? Age? Chemistry?
I'd like your thoughts.
Then on the right side, is Fant the key to our season?
If Fant plays RT at the level he played LT last year, our pass protection gets way better on the edge. He was so good.
He has a lot to prove. Needs to prove last year wasn't an abberation.
J-Rob is likely better on blitz pickup than MC so that'll help. And Corey Davis returning will be big for the outside runs. We might have the pieces in house.
If those pieces work together after the bye week, we're a good offense again. Then MLF can build a plan around his new RB pair, integrate Moore into the offense. Keep trying to Mims so we get value out of his talent. Use Uzomah so he's a receiving threat too
Reports are that Jets are interested in Bradley Chubb. He's a game changer when healthy, but we'd need to sign him to a deal if trading.
What would you give up though? We need our picks for OL support bec at the moment our team is going nowhere without the OL getting on track
Plus we just drafted JJ in R1.
What's encouraging to me -
1) even after this game and assuming we lose in Buffalo, we have a winning record at 5-4, with a much easier schedule.
2) Fant/Mitchell comes back after the buy week, a huge upgrade. It's also 1 more week to get healthy for Brown. ZW is WAY better with good pass protection.
3) bye week is the perfect time for us to regroup for the 2nd half. MLF can scheme up plans for current personnel for 2H. Give J-Rob a week to learn the playbook. Develop chemistry for our 5 OL, and also ZW to receivers.
4) as bad as the Pats loss feels, we easily could still put together some wins in the 2nd half and make the wildcard. We're still relevant at Halloween, and if we can get the OL right, this is a strong roster
Would we explore trades to improve the OL? For RG? I don't see how we can pay that many OT on the roster with starter money
I don't see an upgrade on Herbig at RG available.
Conklin has been strong when healthy. But I don't see how that happens
Tunsil is a stud but makes $18MM and plays LT. We signed Brown for this.
The MLF offense requires an above average OL performance and we're not getting it. ZW requires it too, at this stage of his development.
The OL seemed terrible. ZW was under duress, and running game didn't seem to have any holes. I'd like to learn more on where we're failing and how to improve.
By player - hoping it was mostly our RT because he's about to be replaced but I don't think that's the case. How are our 2 pro bowl OL on the left side doing? Does Brown seem like he's limping towards the bye week when he can get healthy? We're about to get Fant back, which is exciting based his 2021 production but he was a liability earlier this year.
It felt like we abandoned the run too soon, but also felt like nothing was working on the ground.
Did MLF do the things needed to slow down Judon and the pass rush? Chipping them with TE. Running screen passes and draws to take advantage of their aggressiveness?
Good post game write up and probably written with the "open wound" still bleeding. Wilson should have benched after the 3rd (maybe even the 2nd) pick. Not so much to see White but to make him accountable. I'm not convinved Salah makes his players accountable (JFL repeat offender). Maybe it is time to bench him for a game and the bye. Some reporters and fans are saying "The QB is holding the team back". I'm not convinced of that yet but its getting close. Pretty close to saying the Jets may have blown the 2nd and 3rd picks of the drafts on QBs that cant play in the NFL. The JFM penality may have been season changing. Can somone tell me why 5-3 feels like 1 & 7 ?
Sad to say but we have to facr that Zack is not the answer. It is so frustrating because our GM and staff have put together such a terrific supporting cast albeit one that the injury bug can still disrupt.
I hate the idea that for the reasons you and the first respondent so rightly cited, this is very likely going to mean again starting over and when, like me, you have been a Jets fan since before they were the Jets (and a high school classmate of Matt Snell), I don't know how many more rebuilding I have left.