Jets’ Epiphany Leads To Career Day For Wilson
Near the end of Sunday’s third quarter on another rainy afternoon at MetLife Stadium, Jets quarterback Zach Wilson coughed up the ball to the Texans around midfield while scrambling downfield. Instead of simply sliding to help New York expand on their 14-0 lead, he got careless, and Houston promptly took advantage of their shorter field to get within one score via a Devin Singletary 1-yard run.
Wilson’s fumble was the kind of egregious mistake that always seems to doom Gang Green, because when you play so conservatively on offense as if you’re allergic to the end zone, it often only takes one.
However, the squad that came out of the locker room after a scoreless first half bore no resemblance to anything we’ve seen from the Jets all season, with the exception of the blip of a third quarter against Kansas City in Week 4. Who knows, maybe Head Coach Robert Saleh and Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett were visited by the Ghost of Football Present. But the Jets took the ball and embarked on a 12-play, 75-yard drive, culminating in a 3-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to running back Breece Hall to restore order in a 30-6 rout of the Texans.
That 30-point second half exceeded the output over the course of all but one full game all season—and they needed a defensive touchdown with 29 seconds remaining to get that previous one in Denver. The last time a Jets offense put up 30 points in one half was against the Rams in 2008.
The way that critical possession started, with a pair of handoffs to Dalvin Cook, didn’t inspire confidence. The Jets haven’t been too successful with the run, run, pass sequencing this season, which made up a significant chunk of their league-low 23.1% third-down conversion rate going into Sunday.
However, Wilson, who went 27-for-36 for 301 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions in perhaps the best performance of his three-year career, was masterful all game in finding ways to get the ball in the hands of his sophomore stars Hall and Garrett Wilson. Give Hackett credit, too, for play designs that put Hall in space as opposed to just having him dive into the middle of clogged lines. On this key third down, Wilson hit Hall in the right flat to extend the drive.
Two more Hall touches netted 48 yards and got the Jets down to the Houston 20-yard line, whereupon Wilson was sacked for a nine-yard loss. In these situations, you could usually count on Saleh to instruct Hackett to give up any touchdown pursuits. At best, the plan would call for safe plays that might get the team into field goal range.
Only Wilson wasn’t having any of that. He fitted a pass into a tight window to tight end Jeremy Ruckert that was good for another Jets first down. On third-and-goal, Hall drifted to a wide open spot in the left flat and, with the way the Jets’ defense was playing, the Texans were toast.
Houston rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, who came in with the most passing yards in the NFL this season, joined an illustrious list of opposing stars like Josh Allen (Buffalo), Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City), Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia), and Justin Herbert (L.A. Chargers) whose stats against the Jets were well below their norms. Davis Mills mopped up after Stroud was concussed in the fourth quarter and added one net yard to the Texans’ meager 54 yards passing.
But as well as the Jets defense played on Sunday, Wilson was the story, especially following a week of turmoil from an unsubstantiated report that he was reluctant to take back the starting reins after his two-week benching in favor of the since-waived Tim Boyle.
More specifically, the underlying theme was how Saleh and Hackett let Wilson be Wilson for a good chunk of the game, even a little smidgeon during the first half that saw the Jets punt after all five possessions. Two of those drives got New York into the outer edges of field goal range for kicker Greg Zuerlein, who nailed all three of his field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, including a pair from over 50 yards. Once again, though, one negative play stymied each possession, and the Jets came away with no points.
To start the third quarter, however, the Jets put together a seven-play drive of strictly Wilson dropbacks, and it was wonderful. There was a bootleg, some play action, and throws beyond the sticks. On third-and-12 from the Houston 40-yard line, the Wilson-to-Wilson combo connected for the third time on the drive to set up a Randall Cobb reception on a crossing route that he took 15 yards to the house on the next play. About 16 full quarters after Hall scored against the Giants in Week 8, Wilson had finally led New York to an offensive touchdown.
Following a Houston three-and-out, the Jets kept the foot on the gas pedal. They shook off negative plays and pushed the ball down the field, because that’s how it’s done in the NFL. A 9-yard Xavier Gipson jet sweep gave New Your touchdowns on back-to-back possessions in a Wilson start for the first time since last season’s Week 6 in Green Bay, the game that allegedly had some effect on Aaron Rodgers’ desire to move to New York this past offseason.
With Rodgers in tow, the Jets were amenable to having Wilson sit back as QB2 and just learn from a master this year after his first two seasons produced some of the worst metrics for a starting quarterback in the modern era. Only Rodgers ruptured his Achilles on the fourth snap of the opener against Buffalo and plans had to change. Fast.
Saleh and Hackett did a lousy job with that. A few miracles gave the Jets wins that camouflaged their fatal flaw—that trying to win every game 13-10 like they did against the Giants wasn’t going to be sustainable. Not only did it put undue pressure on a defense that it could never handle, it magnified the impact of every mistake, be it a turnover, penalty, or breakdown.
When you can score points on your own, those gaffes can be overcome. This epiphany, if it actually is one, came too late to save this season, for I wouldn’t bet on the Jets (5-8) running the table, not with a tough game in Miami next week. The more meaningful result was that this win caused them to lose ground in the reverse race for a better Draft slot.
But for season ticketholders and those like me who watch this team without regard to the product quality, maybe this new tack will make the final four games somewhat bearable.