Ryan Fitzpatrick on Zach Wilson: ‘This is a nice wake-up call’

There have been a lot of opinions about Zach Wilson recently after his poor performance in the loss to the Patriots last Sunday.

On Monday, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said Wilson needs to grow the fudge up. A day later, Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played for the Jets for two seasons (2015-16) and is an analyst for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, believes the Jets have overprotected Wilson.

“He just needs to get into a better flow and understanding of what that team needs for him,” Fitzpatrick said. “Some of those wild throws off his back foot and scrambles — this is a good enough team to where they don’t need that. That being said, one of the biggest question marks I’ve had about him and what scared me last year is when they called John Beck his personal quarterback coach to come out and help get his mind right during the season and put him on staff. To me, that was a giant red flag.

“I don’t know Zach Wilson, but that scares me a little bit. I know they were trying to help him and do whatever they could to get his mental right and help everything to match with his physicals, but that one scared me a little bit. To fly someone in to make sure he was OK and coddle him a little bit.

“He just has to play better and I think this is a nice wake-up call for him to know they have a good football team, they don’t need him to do the things he was doing on Sunday and those mistakes. I think it is so exciting to see the good because there is good and there is some exciting stuff with him as he has great mobility, he has a great arm, but he still has to learn how to play quarterback in the National Football League.”

Midway through his rookie season last year, the Jets added Beck to the coaching staff for the rest of the season. Previously in his playing career, Beck was a quarterback for the Dolphins, Ravens and Texans.

Jets coach Robert Saleh said the move was to help Wilson, who was struggling during his first season in the NFL. The team did not retain Beck for the 2022 season.

Before Sunday’s game against the Patriots, Wilson was 4-0 in his four starts this season, as he went three consecutive games without committing a turnover. But against New England, Wilson completed 20 of 41 passes for 355 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

The Patriots turned Wilson’s three turnovers into 10 points, which was the difference in a close game.

“I’m sure if you talked to Zach, I’m sure he would tell you there are a few throws he would want back,” genreal manager Joe Douglas said. “But we are 4-1 with Zach as our quarterback.

“In his first game back, Zach brought us back from a double-digit deficit in hostile territory in Pittsburgh. I know the focus was on the turnovers, but we love Zach and we love his approach every week and he’s our quarterback.”