Jets Country

'Gotta Be Better': Zach Wilson Evaluates His Performance in Loss to Lions

Wilson talked about the good and bad from his performance against the Lions, a game with explosive plays and a costly interception.

Max Goodman

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When Zach Wilson made his final start before getting benched last month, the second-year quarterback failed to take accountability, saying a poor performance from the Jets' offense wasn't his doing. 

Three weeks later, Wilson had his first shot to prove his reset was productive. 

There were some low points, but Wilson took strides in the right direction against the Lions on Sunday. After the game—a 20-17 loss—Wilson demonstrated more maturity, focusing on what he could've improved on.

"Gotta be better, man," Wilson told reporters. "We had explosive plays offensively, but it's the first and second down, staying ahead of the sticks. I can think of a number of plays I left out there. Gotta look at it as a learning process, try and keep improving every single week. That's the goal."

Overall, Wilson threw for 317 yards, completing 18-of-35 passes. In addition to several explosive plays downfield, he had two touchdown passes, both to tight end C.J. Uzomah.

There was a lull at the beginning of the second half where Wilson reverted to his old tendencies, though. The quarterback threw an ugly interception on New York's opening drive in the third quarter, a pass attempt he admitted was a "bad decision" and one he shouldn't have thrown.

"In that moment of going out there and throwing a bad interception, I gave up three points and put our defense in a bad situation there," Wilson explained. "You see how those three points come back to bite us at the end. I need to take care of the football. But the mindset after that is to move on. It is what it is, it happened. How can I rebound from this. You've got to be able to move on in this league and I think the guys around me did an amazing job. They kept fighting, they kept going and the defense put us in a good position to get some drives going."

He showed that he is capable of putting points on the board in an important spot, giving the Jets a chance to win. Not only did Wilson lead New York to a go-ahead score—finding Uzomah on a one-yard touchdown with 4:41 remaining—but he also set up a game-tying field goal with one second remaining in regulation. Greg Zuerlein simply couldn't convert.

"That boy battled," rookie wideout Garrett Wilson told reporters. "I thought he handled [his first start in a month] really well, he showed a lot of perseverance, especially at the end of the game making some of the throws that he did, standing in there and gave us a chance to win the game. That's all you can ask for."

Jets head coach Robert Saleh refused to speak about who will start at quarterback on Thursday against the Jaguars. Mike White could return from his rib injury after one week on the sidelines, but a short week and the severity of his injury could keep Wilson under center. 

In the meantime, Saleh was impressed with how Wilson played, pointing out the signal-caller's ability to move the football and create explosives.

"I thought he had a really good first half." Saleh said. "In the third quarter, hit some adversity, and then thought he finished strong. Gave us a chance at a game-tying kick. Unfortunately it didn't work out."

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Jets for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. He also covers the New York Yankees, publisher  of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Yankees site, Inside The Pinstripes. Before starting out with SI, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. While at school, Goodman gathered valuable experience as an anchor and reporter on NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. Goodman previously interned at MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman and connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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