Jets coaches say QB Zach Wilson feels comfortable after 17 career games – Reading Eagle

Last Sunday’s 16-9 win over the Broncos marked Jets quarterback Zach Wilson’s 17th career game in the league.

That’s important because he’s now played the equivalent of a full season of NFL games.

How would Jets offensive coordinator Mike Lafleur rate Wilson at this point?

“He’s getting more and more comfortable,” Lafleur said. “Again, not to say too much, but that was a tough defense that we just came up against, I believe it was their fourth home game, and their points that they gave up were nine, 10 and 12, and we have 16.

“It’s not good enough, and we, as an offense, we know we left a lot, we felt like we left a lot out there, but we ended up in a two-minute situation and then some other situations where we didn’t turn the ball over that played in team ball and that’s what he just learned. He knows when to take risks and when not to take risks in the game, he is becoming more comfortable playing the game within the game.

“So I think it’s going to continue to grow, and again, if you go back to four weeks ago against Pittsburgh where we were down 10 in the fourth quarter, he and the rest of the guys did what they had to do. to find a way to get a W. So like I keep preaching to the guys, we can play any game, we can play any game we want, we’ve proven in four games we want to be more consistent, but they can play any game.” .

Wilson’s career has been up and down through the first 17 games. He threw for 3,027 yards, 10 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He also dealt with several injuries during his two seasons in the league. That includes a torn meniscus and bone bruise during the preseason that sidelined him for seven weeks and forced him to miss the first three games of his sophomore campaign.

After returning from injury, Wilson passed for 693 yards in four games, but only one touchdown (against two INTs). The Jets have won all four of Wilson’s starts, but the passing game has yet to be as in sync as many expected.

After throwing a touchdown pass in his first opener of the season against the Steelers on Oct. 2, Wilson has gone without a TD pass in his last three games. Additionally, the Jets recently lost their top offensive threat to a season-ending injury.

Running back Brice Hall, who leads the team in rushing with 641 yards and four rushing touchdowns, tore his ACL against Denver and miss the rest of the season. Even with Hall in the backfield, there was a question of whether the Jets needed to find a way to start the passing attack.

With Hall no longer an option, Gang Green may be forced to air more.

“I would say whether Brees is there or not, we need more of the passing game,” Wilson said. “We leave some plays out there on the field.

“We just have to be able to execute and go out there and run our offense. I feel we are in a good place and everyone feels confident. We win games. In the passing game, we’d like to be more efficient whether Brees was here or not.”

Wilson will face a tough task this weekend when the Patriots come to MetLife Stadium. He struggled in both meetings against New England last year, when he passed for 261 yards, zero touchdowns and four interceptions as the Patriots won the season series. Wilson also suffered a sprained PCL in the second game against New England.

Although they lost to the Bears 33-14 in Foxboro last Monday night, the Patriots are still one of the best teams against the pass. New England is allowing just 208.3 yards per game through the air. The Patriots defense also ranks third in turnovers (13).

“New England has always been a team that just feasts on your mistakes,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “The reason they’re such a good defense is because I’ve said it before, they’ve been coaching this system for what seems like a hundred years.

“They know every detail and the players coach so well because of all the details that go into what they coach and they can anticipate and they know how teams are going to attack them and they can just, they can be con juncture. , so you have to be very careful with the crime to make sure you don’t give them freebies.

“So that’s always going to be a problem when you play in New England, the more comfortable you get in the system, the more you can cheat knowing what their weaknesses are. And you see all of that on their tape, they’re, again, very well coached, they’re very disciplined, they play fast and they do a very good job.”

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