What should the Jets do about Zach Wilson? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab discuss the the Jets 10-3 loss to the Patriots, and the continued lack of production from their young quarterback. While a change is likely in order, Charles reminds us that there was a future Hall of Fame quarterback that struggled at the start of his career until he eventually hit his stride. However, with a playoff ready defense the Jets face a difficult decision. Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
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FRANK SCHWAB: My goodness, this game was terrible. The New England Patriots win 10 to 3 over the New York Jets. One great play-- the Marcus Jones punt return was pretty awesome, unless you had Jets plus 3 as one of us might have in this game. I mean, it's just a terrible, terrible game. Great punt return at the end. The Patriots pull it out.
But I think there's no question there's one story out of this game, and it's the clock is ticking on Zach Wilson already. I think you tweeted that they need to start Flacco. I don't necessarily disagree with you.
CHARLES ROBINSON: My point, I mean, who-- it's not working.
FRANK SCHWAB: Whoever you think is your best chance.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah.
FRANK SCHWAB: Zach Wilson was so bad in this game. I mean, just like how are you an NFL quarterback bad. I have already started to wonder if he's on the Josh Rosen path where he's not even a backup three years from now, where he's just out of the league. That's how bad this game was. I don't want to give up on a guy in the middle of his second season, but there's been nothing good out of Zach Wilson.
I talked about Kenny Pickett before. Kenny Pickett wasn't drafted second. Was drafted 20th, if I remember right. He looked pretty good today, so I'm like, oh, OK, we have something to build on there. OK, where are the highlights out of Zach Wilson? Where are the plays where you're like, that guy, yeah, that was the second pick of the draft? We don't see that at all.
And I don't know what Robert Saleh can do. Because on one hand, you're 6 and 4. You have a chance still to make the playoffs, to make a really good season out of it. You have to know that that quarterback ain't helping you. If you win, you're winning in spite of him. But can you pull the plug on the second pick of the draft right now? You're still a rebuilding team. You're still trying to get to where you want to go, and it's probably not going to happen this year.
If you bench that guy now, it's probably done for him, confidence-wise. How many guys how many guys have gotten benched in a similar situation and really, honestly bounced back to be great quarterbacks? But I don't know if they just look and say, wow, why did we draft this guy? He's not the guy. I don't know where they are, and I don't know what they do.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I'm not burying him for life, OK? I'm not ready to put him in the Josh Rosen category yet. Now that said, it's not working, OK? It's not. And if you were a bad team all around, I would say play him. Deal with it. It's a bad team. You just kind of go through the wall.
The problem is it's a playoff-caliber defense. And not only a playoff-caliber defense, it's like a playoff game winning caliber defense. That's how good the defense is. You can't keep doing [BLEEP] like this as an offense and not have the defense start to separate in the locker room, not start to go, what the hell, man? We held them to--
FRANK SCHWAB: Charles, in the fourth quarter, I'm watching and I'm saying-- again, I picked the Jets. And I'm like, their best outcome in this game is a 3-3 tie. They are not going to score. And if I'm saying that, you know the defensive guys are on the sidelines saying, we could play for six more hours, and we're not going to score. What do we do?
CHARLES ROBINSON: Right.
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah, I agree with you. Zach Wilson was asked after the game, do you think he let the defense down? And he says, no.
CHARLES ROBINSON: No.
FRANK SCHWAB: Come on, man. If you're the quarterback of an NFL team, even if you don't believe it, you got to sit up there and say, we scored 3 points. Heck yeah we let the defense down. People get on Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson will say, yeah, we're not playing well enough.
I mean, for Zach Wilson to sit up there, after throwing for 77 yards, and say, no, we didn't let the defense down, what are you doing, kid? What are you possibly thinking? You not only absolutely let the defense down, you ruined this game for them. They had every chance to win this game. They should have won this game.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I'll say this for you, OK? This is the only glimmer of hope for anybody, and I only bring this up because I watched it. I remember reporting on it. I remember going out to this team. Quarterback plays his first three seasons in the NFL, OK?
Doesn't really start as a rookie, starts the second and third year. 10 and 17 record, 29 to 31 touchdown to interception ratio, 59.4% completion percentage, OK? First three years. Year four, 11 and 4, 27 to 7 TD to interception, 65 and 1/2% completion percentage. Pro Bowl player. Who was that?
FRANK SCHWAB: Goff?
CHARLES ROBINSON: Drew Brees.
FRANK SCHWAB: Brees, huh.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Drew Brees was [BLEEP].
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He was very mediocre, OK? Now he didn't play much his first year, but he's very mediocre in year two, very mediocre in year three. They're like, hey, we got to go draft Philip Rivers. Drew Brees shows up, and then they're like, oh, what do we do now? He's a Pro Bowler, and we just drafted a kid in the first round. He kept Philip's ass on the bench until Brees, obviously, got hurt at the end of-- I think it was the second year after that.
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah, it was there. Yeah.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I'm not saying that's Zach. But I'm just saying if you think there's any chance that the player you drafted, there's a chance of him still coming out, as long as it doesn't break him, you bench him, hope he learns from it, and you let him get back in there.
