Evaluating Zach Wilson, Week 3: A Shutout in Denver

In this film breakdown, look back at Zach Wilson's performance in New York's Week 3 shutout loss to the Broncos.

As if starting your NFL career against 2021’s second- and fourth-best passing defenses wasn’t hard enough of a task for Jets rookie quarterback Zach Wilson, Week 3 brought on another top-10 unit in form of the Denver Broncos.

One of the more consistent teams at getting pressure on the quarterback all year, Denver’s front seven had an easy day getting to Wilson — pressuring him 17 times and sacking him five on 33 total attempts. Not only did they get to him, but they also kept him from using his legs, with zero scrambles on the day.

We did have a more conservative Wilson than what we saw his first two games, with his intended air yards per pass dipping below eight after being 9.7 and 9.1 in Weeks 1 and 2, respectively, and his bad throw percentage dipped down to 18.2% after being at 27.3% the week prior. His receivers weren’t too helpful for him either, as they amounted four dropped passes — one of three instances this season — and had their third fewest yards after the catch this season.

As we dive back into the film, a reminder on what development we’re looking for:

• Confidence and timing on open first reads
• Standard throwing motion on the “simple” throws
• Throwing receivers open
• Giving up on dead plays

CREDIT: Clips used in this story are from NFL GamePass.

Week 3: The Denver Broncos

Wilson: 19-for-35, 160 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INT, 5 sacks

Wilson did a decent enough job early on at taking what the defense was giving him. As mentioned in the introduction, his average depth of target was significantly down this week, but mostly because the Broncos are stylistically a “bend-don’t-break” defense that would rather have you dink and dunk down the field than gain chunk plays. Here we see him taking a short curl to Corey Davis on a first-and-10 to pick up eight.

Despite keeping things on the timid side this first half, there were a couple plays that set the Jets back in key third-down situations. The first, with New York pinned deep in its own territory, Wilson can’t pull the trigger on any of his three receivers streaking across the middle and gets brought down while trying to abort the pocket a second later.

The next came on the Jets longest drive of the day, a 15-player that ended in a missed field goal on a false start that eventually resulted in a punt. Facing a third-and-long after a failed screen pass on second down, Wilson sheds away defenders and launches a deep ball outside the pocket that’s eventually broken up for a fourth down. An impressive play given the circumstance, but Wilson did decide against hitting his running back out of the backfield that would’ve resulted in at least a five-yard gain and a more feasible field goal attempt.

This may seem a little nitpicky, and I get going for broke on a third-and-18, but as we know the Jets did come away with zero points in this game and a more comfortable field goal would’ve taken this game from a two-possession game to a one-possession game.

There are a couple more missed opportunities in the first half, but most of them are at fault of the offensive line — with Wilson needing to bail on the play before he was given a chance to get through his progressions and find the open target. While in Weeks 1 and 2 I think there was a lot more that Wilson could’ve done, this was a lackluster performance by the entire offense and the rookie barely had any help from his counterparts.

As the game went on Wilson fell a little off with him timing, not throwing his receivers open and making them work their way back or slow down for the pass to reach their mitts. Here was one of the more egregious ones, missing a Ty Johnson in stride wide open across the middle of the field.

Wilson’s first pick of the day came in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach, but still was a really bad play and easily picked off by All-Pro Justin Simmons. No. 2 stares down Corey Davis the entire play, which catches the veteran eye of Simmons, who comes down on the ball and secures it before Davis had the chance to make a play.

The second was a little flukier, as a scrambling Wilson rifled a ball that bounced off the hands of Braxton Berrios and right into the breadbasket of Caden Sterns. I give props to Wilson for trying to make a difficult throw after running around the backfield and taking contact on his release, but it’s plays like these where giving up on it doesn’t help your team but it also doesn’t further the damage done.

All in all, this was a very bland and uninspiring showing by the Jets offense. The Jets did less damage to itself than they had the week prior, but it was at the cost of a downfield passing attack and a lack of energy. As always, we’ll finish with Wilson’s play of the day, which was tough to pick and not in a good way. However, this dart to Jeff Smith with pressure altering Wilson’s throwing motion found the open man for a 13-yard gain.

Final Grade: 3/10

Next up is Wilson’s first win of his career, a game in which he set personal bests for completion percentage and passing yards against the Tennessee Titans. Better days are on the horizon!

MORE:

• Former Jets Receiver Signs With AFC East Rival
• Jets' Free Agent Signings Excited to Play With QB Zach Wilson
• Ex-Jets Scout Says Jacob Martin Is a Big-Time Underachiever

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