The world renown Kermit the Frog let us all know in a very magical way that “It Ain’t Easy Being Green”. Jets fans across the world could attest that this is a very true statement.
Well Jets fans, for at least one week we get to turn those frowns upside down. Down 10 points with 14 minutes to play, the NY Jets overcame a raucous crowd in Pittsburgh and mounted yet another unexpected comeback for the ages to seal a victory.
A comeback for the ages – something that is uncommon in NY Jets vernacular – and we’ve said it two times in the past 4 weeks.
A true team effort, but this one held something special. This win was truly the breakout performance that Jets fans far and wide have been waiting for. A comeback win led by our young franchise QB in the making, Zach Wilson.
From a far, the deck was stacked against him. Zach was taking the field for his first game of 2022 after a preseason knee injury. He was working behind a makeshift offensive line after, yet another offensive tackle went down with injury.
Zach brushed all that off and delivered maybe his best game as a pro. We surely watched something special this past week. It was a statement game for NY Jets.
Zach, Robert Saleh, Mike LaFleur, the entire team, the fan base – we all needed it.
Making his first start of the season, Zach provided the Jets offense a needed shot of energy, leadership, and confidence. Positive traits and traits that all the best quarterbacks in the league possess.
The million-dollar question – has Zach Wilson finally arrived?
Some will say yes, some are still not sure. Some people still haven’t bought in. It depends which side of the Zach Wilson Mendoza Line you fall.
Listen, real talk here – it has only been one game. Four quarters of football against a Steelers team who is re-tooling and missing their All-World edge rusher.
The best path to sanity is not getting too big for our proverbial britches. Some feel a lunacy commission should be established if you think that the fortune of the future has changed in one singular game.
The Zach haters are going to tell you that yet again he threw more interceptions than there was TD passes. The Zach haters will let you know yet again he was sub-300 yards. They will be quick to point out that for two-and one-half quarters, the offense looked stagnant
These are all true statements, but do they tell the entire narrative? Let’s take a look at some of the issues Zach had versus the Steelers – issues that need to be cleaned up if Zach is to take that second-year leap, which we are all hoping for.
Tunnel Vision
At times (especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarters) Wilson showed a tendency to lock onto a receiver and not move down his progressions. This is something Zach struggled with last season. The image above depicts this perfectly.
Wilson locks onto the first read in his progression (Elijah Moore, not pictured). He receives pressure from a well-played Steelers blitz and fires on a deep comeback. The throw was ill-timed, as a well-covered Elijah Moore had not completed his route.
The result of the play was an incomplete pass, but Zach and the Jets got a little lucky. A 20-yard comeback route from the far hash to the opposite sideline usually do not fair well, no matter how much arm talent a quarterback has.
Pittsburgh dialed up some pressure here with a zero blitz, meaning they are locked into man-to-man coverage on all viable receivers with no deep safety help and everyone else rushing the quarterback. Steelers CB Arthur Maulet (#2 in yellow) has Michael Carter (#1 in yellow) in coverage.
Carter shows as if he was going to stay in and block Devin Bush (#55, who is blitzing). When Maulet sees Carter staying in, he proceeds to rush Wilson as well. Carter does not pass block – instead, he peels off underneath into the hot route – which is WIDE OPEN.
Feeling the pressure, Zach forces the errant throw instead of coming back to his hot read and hitting Carter which would have secured a large chunk of positive yardage.
A better understanding of the situation at hand would allow him to progress down to his hot route. Processing at game speed will eliminate the young QB’s tunnel vision tendencies.
Hero Throws
In the game of football, sometimes it is better to be the pauper rather than the prince.
The Jets are up 10-3 at this point late in the 2nd quarter. With the ball well into Pittsburgh territory, there is no reason to force anything. Play what the defense gives to you.
On this play, Pittsburgh is in single high man coverage. Zach knows this – when he moves Breece Hall from his right side to his left, the linebacker follows which keys Wilson on the coverage.
He gets through his progressions: the first read, Elijah Moore is covered. Zach has two crossing routes one from Garret Wilson going wide side to short and one from Jeff Smith (#1 in yellow) crossing short side of the field to wide.
As we all know, crossing routes are the Achilles Heel to man coverage – so the Jets are set up for success. Again, already in FG range with a seven-point lead, play the role of the pauper.
If you look at Garrett Wilson (#2 in yellow), he is open. A strong throw to the short side numbers results in first down and probably a touchdown. Being cognizant of down, distance, situation – you take the safe, high percentage throw here.
Not Zach – he goes for the higher risk/higher reward choice. Zach wants to be the prince, the hero if you will. Wilson tries to step on the throat of the Steelers and go into halftime 17-3 on the road.
Knowing the defense is in man, Zach tries to lead Jeff Smith to the corner (yellow X). 35 yards from the far has to the opposite sideline.
The cornerback who is manned up on Elijah Moore makes the smart read and has all the time in the world to make a play on the ball while it is in the air. Result of the play – easy interception for Pittsburgh.
To further complicate things, a personal foul penalty a few plays later allow the Steelers to get into FG position and they make the 60-yard kick. From up 10-3 to now only up 10-6 with a total loss of momentum. That is hero ball for you.
There is really no reason for Zach Wilson to force a throw here. A quarterback needs to know the situation – even throwing the ball away gives the Jets a chance to score points and add even more pressure to the Steelers.
You love to see aggressiveness, but there are situations where that mentality needs to be tempered. This example is a perfect one. Mental errors such as these cannot continue.
Let it be clear, for all the “bad” that happened on Sunday, there was indeed plenty of “good” to go around and discuss. This was overall, a very good showing by Zach Wilson. His first real time in live, meaningful action since basically December of last year.
There were three major growth points of emphasis that could be extracted from the Pittsburgh game:
Poise
All in all, Zach played a very good game. The stat line truthers may try to paint a different picture, but don’t get it twisted – our QB looked like the player we all want.
Under heavy duress all day, for the most part Zach didn’t flinch. He kept his composure and took the game over. Unlike last season, the moment was not too big for him to handle.
Hard to see from this image, but this shot here is a perfect example of a smart quarterback playing with poise. Down 10 points in the fourth quarter, the Jets knew it was “go time”. Our quarterback needed to step up, and that he did.
Pittsburgh comes out in single high man robber – man defense all around with SS Minkah Fitzpatrick (in the yellow box) dropping down to “rob” the zone – basically, taking away the middle of the field.
Identifying the defensive scheme, you can see Zach Wilson freeze Fitzpatrick with his eyes, which allows Garrett Wilson (#1 in yellow) to cross across the field and gain separation from his man. He leads GW with a perfect ball who in turn gains some chunk yards.
This is high-level quarterback skill – a true blessing and pleasure to see from #2 in the most pressure-packed situation he has seen to date.
Mounting a comeback from 10-points down in the fourth quarter takes a leader and it seems as if the Jets may have theirs. 10 plays, 65 yards for the winning TD with under a minute to pay. That takes moxie and that takes poise – in Pittsburgh, Zach had both.
Elusiveness
We have to call a spade a spade in this situation – Zach Wilson’s mobility is 100% directly opposite to that of Joe Flacco, who started for us while ZW was on the mend. Any mobility was going to be better than the 0.0% mobility Flacco offered.
Let us not forget that we were playing this game with our fifth and sixth offensive tackles. That alone may spell disaster for mere mortals, but not one Zachary Kopono Wilson – who can dip, dive and dance around tacklers with ease.
Breaking the pocket and eluding would-be sacks to save plays is something that we grew accustomed to watching Zach run for his life last season. Unfortunately, we saw the opposite with Flacco at the helm for the first three weeks.
Zach on a number of plays put his mobility and elusiveness on stage and it paid off. The was that one play – a botched double-pass where he fumbled the ball and somehow gained control back, avoided being tackled, and flipped it underhand out of bounds and past the line of scrimmage for an incomplete pass.
That singular play alone defines how slippery and yet, in control he can be. Teams have to account for that trait. Versus Pittsburgh, his mobility paid off handsomely.
Leadership
Maybe the best quote of the day came in the post-game interview with Breece Hall. When asked what Zach Wilson said as he came into the huddle after the 4th quarter interception by Michael Carter II, Breece responded back quickly “He said, LET’S GO SCORE A FU$%ING TOUCHDOWN!”
Listen, you may think this is not a new revelation. All quarterbacks should be leaders, correct? Yes, I agree with that statement, but something more came out of Zach Wilson in Pittsburgh that leads me to believe a year 2 breakout may be upon us.
Composure in the heat of the moment is a sign of very good things to come for a young QB. Zach Wilson was down 10 points in the fourth quarter on the road in Pittsburgh – a very well coached team.
None of that even fazed him and he never wavered. He knew what the outcome was going to be all along.
10 for 12 for over 120 yards in the fourth quarter. Numerous clutch throws, especially on third and fourth downs.
No throw better epitomized Zach’s ability as a leader than this above play.
As you can see, fourth down and seven yards to go. Pittsburgh showing pressure right up the middle. Zach delivers a strike to Corey Davis two yards past the first down marker in a place that only he could catch it.
First down and a few plays later, a touchdown – same combo #2 to #84.
The fourth quarter was a Zach Wilson masterpiece, his coming out party some may say. Zach believed the Jets would win and Zach’s teammates believed he would lead them to victory.
This game was different than week two in Cleveland. That win felt grimy – almost like we didn’t deserve it. Listen, a win is a win, but it felt as if the Browns game came with an asterisk. Cleveland lost that game and handed us the win.
Not Pittsburgh though– nope, not this one. We came and took this game. The better team led by the better quarterback came in and got the job done.
Aside from the notch in the win column, Jets fans far and wide can really feel comfortable knowing that maybe, just maybe we are in good hands.
It’s only been one game, but #2 looked different. Still some things to clean up but all in all, no Jets fan can leave feeling glum. We got hope and, our hope may have grown up a little bit over the off-season.
That #2, he may just be alright. Jets fans, we may have something here. Stay tuned, hold on tight and enjoy the ride.
How dark it was before the dawn…
Let’s go Jets…