Rolling with Zach (for now)

Edition #476

Good morning!

I still can’t quite believe that the whole narrative around our season has shifted so dramatically after just 4 snaps.

I’m not calling time on the season, the defence and running game are too good for that. But are the expectations the same? Not for me.

With Rodgers this team was an SB contender, now with Zach, they should reach the playoffs as long as the defense plays lights-out football.

For all the good feelings following the walk-off win, the offence still put up 1 touchdown and 16 points. Over the long run, they’ll need to do a lot more.

A lot of new readers joined yesterday, so a big welcome to you guys. I’m currently on vacation with the family, so the newsletters are more succinct. Next week we’ll be back to longer newsletters every weekday, but I’m gonna post some short ones this week so we all have somewhere to discuss and debate.

“We are going to look through some things, but I do want to make it very clear, Zach (Wilson) is our quarterback. We got a lot of faith in Zach. We’re really excited about his opportunity, but we’re rolling with Zach and excited for him and, like I said, this opportunity he’s going to get.” - ROBERT SALEH

Unsurprisingly, the Jets are going to roll with Zach, and while they will look to add another QB, it won’t be for a competition with Zach, it’ll be as a backup.

Saleh confirmed that Boyle will be elevated this week and act as the backup.

This off-season Woody Johnson said the QB was the missing piece. If Zach doesn’t perform, there is no way that the Jets won’t explore good alternative options. The quickest way to lose the locker room of a win-now team is to not try and improve on the team’s greatest weakness.

Obviously, that’s only if Zach looks back.

It was a solid if unspectacular outing for Zach against Buffalo. His interception was a bad throw and a worse read. His touchdown pass wasn’t overly well-placed but you don’t have to be perfect when throwing to Garrett Wilson. But he did have a couple of nice tight window throws and he completed 4-8 passes when pressured. Anyone who’s read TJW for the last 18 months knows that Zach has been historically bad under pressure and an inability to play with pressure in your face is a huge issue in the NFL. 50% completion is very good, albeit in a small sample size.

We’ll see how this goes, but I wouldn’t read that much into Saleh’s bravado over Zach. The coach has to give him the confidence he needs, but if he doesn’t perform then the coach owes it to the rest of the squad to look for his replacement. I mentioned Cousins and Stafford yesterday, while accepting they’re not likely to be available now, they could be in 4-5 weeks. If that’s not the solution, I think Jacoby Brissett may be at least a serviceable option. Will crunch all the numbers when I’m back home to get into that.

The road doesn’t get easier for Zach with Micah Parsons and the Cowboys on the schedule for Sunday.

Here are a couple of key stats from the game on Monday night courtesy of our friends over at PFF.