Jets QB Zach Wilson has to make his season debut against Steelers next week
Jets quarterback Zach Wilson reacts during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Well, we were thisclose to a tasty early-season quarterback controversy at 1 Jets Drive this week.
OK, maybe “controversy” is the wrong word.
Call it an “issue” or a “discussion” or a “quandary” or whatever else you want to call it.
But if Joe Flacco had found a way to will the Jets to an upset of the defending AFC champion Bengals on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, coach Robert Saleh figured to be mighty tempted to give Zach Wilson’s injured right knee another week to heal.
Instead, Flacco and the Jets reverted to their Week 1 form, falling to 1-2 with a 27-12 loss and the 37-year-old former Super Bowl winner at the helm.
Flacco gave the Jets two great minutes out of the 180 the team has played this season — leading a startling comeback victory in Cleveland in Week 2 — and did have some other moments during his term.
But unless doctors tell the Jets that Wilson is putting his knee in grave danger of reinjury by getting on the field in Pittsburgh next Sunday, the second-year man absolutely, positively must make his 2022 debut then and there.
Even if the Jets lose to the Steelers, getting Wilson reacclimated and started on the road to relevant progress this season would serve a purpose. Losing another game with Flacco — or Mike White — in charge of the offense would be a waste of time and effort.
Saleh has been consistent in saying Wilson will take over as soon as he is cleared medically, and he said after Sunday’s game that he is “expecting” that will happen this week.
Ergo: Wilson figures to be practicing with the first unit come Wednesday.
Flacco, a pro’s pro, understands all of this, of course.
He mostly shrugged off both the boos and the chants for White — who beat the Bengals on the same field last Halloween, remember — as he threw two interceptions, lost two fumbles and led no touchdown drives.
“Listen, when you’re not winning football games and you’re losing, you’re struggling a little bit, fans want you to go out there and win football games,” he said. “They’re here to watch football, but they’re here to watch their team win. You get the frustration.
“But at the same time, it’s a two-score game, and if we put one in the end zone there [late in the game] . . . We have more important things to worry about than listening to that stuff. It’s our job to go play football, and that kind of stuff, it’s going to happen.”
Flacco also understands what is coming this week, when Wilson — who is 14½ years his junior — is slated to be handed the reins of an offense facing all sorts of challenges, notably a dangerously wobbly line.
“We’ll see,” Flacco said when asked if he expects to play this week. “You [reporters] know more than I do. I’ll just keep my head down, keep working, keep doing all I can for this team, whatever it might be.”
Flacco hardly was the only culprit in Sunday’s loss, given the lack of pass protection, the dropped passes, the maddening penalties at terrible times, etc.
The game in many ways was a rerun of Week 1, a 24-9 loss to the Ravens that also featured chants for White to enter the game and also ended with the stadium almost empty. (Apparently fans were unconvinced that the Jets would repeat their last-minute magic from the previous Sunday.)
The next chance fans will get to stay until the end at home will come on Oct. 9, when the currently undefeated Dolphins come to town.
If Wilson beats the Steelers, they at least will have more reason to pay attention.
Saleh said he never considered inserting White on Sunday, which at least would have earned him a few cheers.
Asked if he expects Wilson to be medically cleared this week, the coach said, “We’ll evaluate it all tomorrow. Expecting, but it’s until the doctors say so.”
That’s fair. Wilson’s long-term health should be paramount. But as long as doctors and trainers do not tackle him before he gets onto the field, the matter is settled.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
