EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson lived by the long ball on his return to the starting lineup, resulting in one of the most prolific passing days of his young career, but he lamented his mistakes after a 20-17 loss. at the Detroit Lions on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Wilson said his third-quarter interception, which opened up a field goal for Detroit, was “a bad decision.” Speaking about his overall performance, he said, “I have to be better, man.”
The fact that he showed responsibility after the Jets’ third straight loss was a stark contrast to his postgame comments from his previous departure on Nov. 1. 20 against the New England Patriots. After throwing for just 77 yards in a 10-3 loss, he refused to take responsibility for the poor offensive performance – and he was benched days later.
Thus, Wilson has shown progress in this regard. As for his performance on the pitch, it was uneven.
Replacing injured Mike White (fractured ribs), who was ruled out on Friday, Wilson completed 18 of 35 passes for 317 yards and two touchdowns — the second-highest yardage of his career. He averaged 14.5 passing yards on his completions, the most of any quarterback with 15-plus completions in a game since Russell Wilson in 2012, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Zach Wilson completed passes for 50, 40, 33 and 33 yards. At halftime, he glanced at the stat sheet and saw “a shitload of yards,” he said — eight completions for 185, to be exact. But things took a turn for the worse in the third quarter, starting with the interception of cornerback Jerry Jacobs.
“I forced it; I shouldn’t have thrown it,” Wilson said of his interception, a first-down floater aimed at wide receiver Elijah Moore on the sideline. The Lions capitalized on the short field for a field goal, taking a 13-10 lead.
After that, the second pick in the 2021 draft began to run out of open receivers, drawing boos from the restless home crowd. He missed a wide-open Garrett Wilson in the middle, and the rookie wide receiver responded with a display of frustration on the field. After the game, he and the quarterback hugged on the sideline.
“I think he handled it really well,” Garrett Wilson said of his teammate’s return. “He showed a lot of perseverance, especially late in the game, making some of the throws he made. He gave us a chance to win the game. That’s all you can ask for. He gave us gave me a good chance to win the game.” Game.”
For stretching, Zach Wilson’s “reset” — as the Jets called his bench — felt like a replay of past performances: off-target passes and back-foot throws. He got the ball back with 1 minute and 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter, down three points, but went 3-for-7 and took two sacks on the drive. The match ended with Greg Zuerlein’s missed basket from 58 yards.
Afterwards, coach Robert Saleh declined to name a starter for Thursday night’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The decision could depend on White’s medical report; he’s scheduled for additional scans of his ribs. Due to the short week, they will likely have to leave with Wilson.
“I think he played well,” Saleh said of Wilson, who fell to 5-3 as a starter. “There are ebbs and flows in the game. There will always be things we can nitpick about, but he moved the ball, created explosive plays.”
The Jets, who fell behind Brock Wright’s 51-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-a-game with 1:49 left, had a chance to tie or win. They had 75 yards to go for a touchdown with three timeouts, but Saleh made some questionable time management decisions.
Saleh didn’t call his first timeout until 19 seconds remained, letting precious seconds bleed from the clock. He called the second with a second to go, leaving an unused timeout.
Then he questioned himself.
“I can probably come back to that and say we should have used one for sure,” he said. “But at the same time, when you have three timeouts, time is not an issue whether you use one there or not. But, yes, in hindsight for me, I could have called a time dead to calm the guys down.”
Asked about using the timeout, Garrett Wilson said: “We’ll watch the movie tomorrow and be like, ‘Wow, we could have handled it better. “”
Zach Wilson declined to comment on clock management. He also wouldn’t comment on his job security.
“I think it’s not for me to decide,” he said. “For me, I think it comes down to how can I watch this movie, how can I improve and can I keep trying to put our offense in the best position to win, and I haven’t. done today.”
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