The Jets can teach rookie Zach Wilson how to not throw 4 interceptions

Zach Wilson had a historically bad performance against the Patriots on Sunday.

Wilson was the fourth rookie quarterback taken in the top-5 to finish a game with zero passing touchdowns and four interceptions in the last 20 seasons — the other QBs were Sam Darnold, Mark Sanchez and Alex Smith according to ESPNStatsInfo.

The main concern was Bill Belichick’s defense would throw confusing looks to trick Wilson, but that didn’t happen often. Wilson faced disguised coverage on only 10.3% of his dropbacks, per ESPN.

Wilson’s interceptions were bad, but each pick is correctable. It wasn’t like the Patriots threw an exotic defensive look that distorted the rookie quarterback. He just made poor throws and that is coachable.

His first interception happened on a throw to Corey Davis, who was running a curl route over the middle of the field. J.C. Jackson played underneath it because he knew safety Devin McCourty was over the top. Jackson could sit on any short route, so when Davis broke down, Jackson was right there. Wilson fired it into coverage and Jackson tipped it up before it landed back in his hands.

The BYU product knew that was the wrong read.

“They were in man coverage and I saw I had CD over the middle working a one-on-one and based on how the guy was playing it, I probably just shouldn’t have thrown it,” Wilson said after the game.

The second one happened while the Jets were up against a zone look. The Jets ran a play action and rolled right. Wilson had Elijah Moore in the flat and forced a pass to Davis on a crosser. The ball was slightly high and went through Davis’ hands.

That’s another easy fix. Either Davis catches the ball or Wilson could have taken the checkdown to Moore.

As Robert Saleh said, “it’s OK to play a boring game of football. That’s really it. [Wilson] is an electric dude. He’s competitive as crap and wants to win so bad. Sometimes, it’s OK to be boring. That’s probably the biggest lesson that we can take out of this one.”

That was one of those moments.

On Wilson’s third interception, a late throw to Moore on a corner route, Moore was blanketed by Jackson. Nobody was open. Wilson simply can’t make a bad situation worse by throwing that.

That’s just a learning experience.

The fourth interception was the worst one of the day.On the first drive of the third quarter and at second and 28, Wilson lofted a punt-like pass towards the sideline to either Davis or Moore, but it was high and softly landed in Devin McCourty’s possession. The Patriots were a two-trap coverage according to Wilson. That means the outside cornerback was playing underneath, waiting for an outside breaking route from either the slot or outside receiver, with a safety protecting over the top.

There was some confusion on the vertical routes from Davis and Moore, but Wilson threw it into traffic anyway, for a boneheaded pick.

“They did a good job of taking away my checkdown to the side,” Wilson said. “We did have a little bit of confusion out there on the sideline, but the balls in my hands are gonna take care of the ball.”

Three of his interceptions on Sunday happened when the pocket was clean, according to Pro Football Focus. So it wasn’t like Wilson was under significant pressure, which is an improvement from Week 1 from a pass protection standpoint.

Wilson just needs to make smarter decisions in a clean pocket.

Wilson’s four interceptions were alarming, but patience is required. It’s all part of the process.