Wilson’s Fourth Quarter Course Correction Lifts Jets Past Steelers
I would imagine every Jets fan my age knows at least one friend who hopped on the Steelers bandwagon during their glory days, making Gang Green’s 24-20 comeback victory from 10 points down in the fourth quarter on Sunday at (whatever) Field in Pittsburgh extra sweet.
It hasn’t been easy rooting for this woebegone franchise all these years, mostly because the team has never developed a quarterback capable of providing anything more than a few fleeting good moments.
Whether or not second-year Jets QB Zach Wilson really came of age on Sunday with his two touchdown drives under extreme adversity will be determined in the weeks and years to come. Still, how he managed to right the Jets’ sinking ship in the fourth quarter was downright impressive in his first game of the season following knee surgery. He was a brutal 8-for-24 for 124 yards with two interceptions entering the frame, playing behind a battered offensive line and a coaching staff that seemed like its intent was to cover the 3.5-point spread.
Wilson was a different guy in crunch time, standing tall in the pocket, planting his back foot, and driving the ball down downfield. No panic in his wandering eyes, no throwing off balance, and no improv “off schedule” plays that get him in trouble other than when he used his athleticism to toss balls out of bounds to avoid sacks.
The Jets ended up going 2-2 versus the AFC North gauntlet from the league’s schedule-makers’ idea of a punk when by all rights they could have been looking at 0-4 with 3-1 Miami up next. Unlike the flukish 31-30 Week 2 win in Cleveland, though, this one wasn’t handed to them; it was earned.
Folks will be drilling down on Wilson’s performance during the game-winning possession that was made possible by a Michael Carter II tip-drill interception of Pittsburgh’s rookie backup quarterback Kenny Pickett and ended with rookie running back Breece Hall’s 1-yard plunge with 16 seconds remaining, but it was the previous drive that opened my eyes.
Trailing 20-10 after Pickett’s second rushing touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter, the Jets needed a definitive response. So of course the team did almost everything in its power to make things more difficult, yet Wilson still delivered the goods.
On a third-and-6 following a 1-yard dive into the line by running back Michael Carter, Wilson hit Garrett Wilson in stride 15 yards downfield and the rookie wide receiver then took it into Pittsburgh territory for a 35-yard gain. Wilson faced a similar predicament on the next series of downs after Offensive Coordinator Mike LaFleur called another second-down run that went nowhere and then Wilson scrambled for six yards to put New York in a do-or-die fourth-and-seven from the Steelers’ 39-yard line. Again, Wilson threw a dart from the pocket that wide receiver Corey Davis pulled down as he was cutting inside on a slant for a 22-yard gain.
A Hall scamper got the Jets to a yard from paydirt, but a pair of penalties put Wilson in another tough spot, facing a third-and-goal from the 5-yard line. From there, LaFleur schemed Davis wide open for one of Wilson’s easiest throws of the day to get New York within 20-17.
The Athletic reported that Wilson was pressured 22 times on 39 dropbacks on the day, but give the offensive line some credit for stepping up when it counted most. Head Coach Robert Saleh pulled a fast one by moving guard Alijah Vera-Tucker to left tackle to start the game instead of just replacing the injured George Fant (who moved over from right tackle to replace the injured Duane Brown, who was only signed during the preseason to replace the injured Mekhi Becton—got it?) with human pylon Conor McDermott, but then right tackle Max Mitchell went down during the game with a knee injury, forcing McDermott into action.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini tweeted that Wilson was under duress on two of his five dropbacks on the game-winning drive, though from my vantage no Steeler really got that close to him prior to his releases. Perhaps the most important block of the day came not from one of the five hogs, but from Hall, who stepped into Pittsburgh defensive tackle Cameron Heyward after he beat Jets overpriced guard Laken Tomlinson off the snap on a crucial third-and-six from just past midfield on the first play after the two-minute warning. The extra beat allowed Wilson to find tight end Tyler Conklin over the middle for an eight-yard gain.
Wilson ended up posting a stat line of 10-for12 for 128 yards and a touchdown just in the fourth quarter. That exceeded his passing yardage totals from two of his last three GAMES during his lousy rookie season.
Again, we’ll see if this progress was just a mere blip, but Jets fans who have dying for some hope will take what they can get.