The booing started on the New York Jets’ fourth play from scrimmage.
Zach Wilson dropped back, the Jacksonville Jaguars sniffed out a screen, and Wilson sidearmed it into the ground. The boos weren’t that loud, but you could easily make them out on the broadcast.
The boos were loud by the end of the first half. With every poor offensive play, Jets fans voiced their displeasure. When Wilson’s desperation pass at the end of the half was picked off, Jets fans were angry.
Thursday night’s awful 19-3 loss to the Jaguars might not have been rock bottom for Wilson, because there was that horrendous game against the New England Patriots that got him benched for the first time this season, but it was really bad. Late in the third quarter, Wilson was benched for Chris Streveler, a run-first gadget QB.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh said he put in Streveler to give the offense, and particularly the run game, a spark. Streveler had a couple good plays right away and the Jets stuck with him the rest of the game. The Jets had three first downs with Wilson playing. On Streveler’s first drive, the Jets got four first downs.
Wilson is a struggling second-year quarterback, and he’s in the wrong market for it. In 2021 there was some debate about whether Trevor Lawrence or Wilson should be the No. 1 draft pick — seriously, that happened — and it didn’t seem so bad that the Jets had to settle for Wilson at No. 2. On Thursday night, and many days before that, the two quarterbacks look like they’re not even playing the same sport.
Lawrence looked poised, confident and in control Thursday night, leading the Jaguars to a huge win over the Jets. That puts them in position to be playing for the AFC South title against the Tennessee Titans in Week 18, if the Titans lose one of their next two or the Jaguars beat the Houston Texans next week.
For the Jets, they’re again left wondering if there’s any hope for a quarterback who was drafted No. 2 overall about 20 months ago.
Zach Wilson’s struggles start right away
The Jets had three first downs and 66 yards of offense in the first half. To start the second half, they went three and out.
It was raining and windy at MetLife Stadium, but Lawrence didn’t have much problem with the conditions. Wilson couldn’t make simple throws. Wilson can scramble around and throw it a long way, and that gets some people excited, but he hasn’t shown he can operate within the normal structure of an NFL offense.
Not yet anyway. There’s time for him to develop. Injuries have set him back. But there’s a reason all those Jets fans were booing. There was a reason Jets players were so excited to play for Mike White when White took over for Wilson a few weeks ago.
White is injured and that’s why Wilson was playing again. The results haven’t been much different for Wilson this time around.
It started on the first series. Lawrence fumbled and the Jets recovered at the Jaguars’ 16-yard line. On third down, Wilson never saw safety Andre Cisco on a blitz and was sacked. There was no awareness on the play. Maybe that’s being a young quarterback. You’d just like to see more progress by now.
After Wilson was benched Thursday night, you have to wonder if he’ll have any more chances to play this season.
