DENVER — This Jets season is designed to be a 17-game development camp for Zach Wilson. For all they have suffered over the decades, Jets fans accept these terms of engagement. They are willing to get kicked in the teeth yet again if it means finally molding a championship-level quarterback.
On the other end of the pact, the Jets are charged to create an environment that allows the No. 2-overall draft pick to learn, make adjustments, and get better as a supposed franchise player-to-be. Sunday, the visiting team provided no such thing. Yeah, the Jets threw Wilson out there again to take his hits against the Denver defense, but sometimes lumps are just lumps.
Sometimes what are advertised as growing pains are really just pains, minus the growing.
The Broncos shredded the Jets, 26-0, on a day when nobody helped Wilson. Not Robert Saleh. Not Mike LaFleur. Not Corey Davis. Not Joe Douglas. Not the offensive line.
Not anyone.
“We’ve all got to look in the mirror,” Saleh said.
The reflection should frighten them. The only thing the Jets have going for them right now is the Giants, who are a less forgivable 0-3. New York’s football season should be over before the Yankees are done playing baseball.
Wilson was sacked five times, hit nine times, and intercepted twice. Oh, and if you’re keeping score at home, ex-Jets Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Darnold are 6-0, while the current Jets quarterback is regressing by the possession.
All Jets, including Wilson, are saying that these ungodly struggles are a necessary part of the quarterback’s education.
“It may be hard for people to see that,” Wilson said, “but we’re learning a lot in those games and people are going to hate and it is what it is.”
People aren’t hating on the Jets, just calling it like they see it.
Wilson showed his toughness and playmaking ability in the opening loss at Carolina, and has since gotten worse. He deserves some of the blame for that, of course, and Saleh jabbed him publicly for not staying at home and releasing the ball when the pocket is clean.
Greg Van Roten, seven-year vet, even offered this critical evaluation: “He’s got to learn this is the NFL and you’ve got to get the ball out. You can’t hold onto it and try to make a play and throw it deep downfield.” The right guard then added that the O-line must protect him better.
Truth is, everyone earning a Jets paycheck has to protect and nurture Wilson better.
Everyone knew this was going to be a tough season to endure, but Sunday was a Mile High exercise in brutal, noncompetitive football. The Jets are suiting up more rookies than anyone and still managed to play even younger than their listed ages.
They have now put up a grand total of three points in their first three first halves, something they hadn’t pulled off in nearly half a century. They have been outscored 46-3 in those halves.
What, exactly, has Zach Wilson gotten out of that?
In Week 3, no Jet stood up and made a play for him. On one second-quarter drive, Wilson threw a tipped pass over the middle to Michael Carter that could have resulted in a big gain. The ball came in wobbly, almost like an end-over-end punt, but it was still catchable, and the rookie running back did not catch it.
Four plays later, on third-and-13 at the Denver 38, Wilson fired a pass down the left side of the field for Corey Davis, the free agent given $37.5 million to make contested catches just like these. Davis did not do his job.
“That’s one of the plays I have to make,” he admitted. “That probably changes the game.”
There were other catches receivers could have made in the second half, and didn’t, though the startling lack of support for Wilson wasn’t only on the players.
On a third-and-2 in the third quarter, the Jets called a strange timeout before Saleh/LaFleur came up with a strange formation and a strange play — an empty backfield set, out of the shotgun, that called for Wilson to stand in the pocket and deliver the ball. The Jets had advertised their intentions to pass, and then didn’t use Wilson’s athleticism on a rollout that would’ve given him the option of a short run for the first down. The kid’s pass was knocked down.
In the end, Wilson made more than his fair share of mistakes. But after three games, it’s clear that the Jets aren’t helping their bonus baby any more than they helped their last one, Darnold, who seems to be doing just fine with his upgraded supporting cast in Carolina.
Development doesn’t just happen with repetition. A plan is also required, and right now the Jets don’t have one.