No matter what, Joe Flacco must yield to Zach Wilson
Joe Flacco #19 of the Jets passes the ball during the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sep. 11, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Jets were one Nick Chubb slide away from another dispiriting loss and a storyline that would have been too delicious to avoid this week:
How could coach Robert Saleh, with an 0-2 record, not ditch place-holding, immobile quarterback Joe Flacco with none other than the Bengals-tamer himself, Mike White?
You might recall that in an otherwise forgettable 2021 season, White produced a shocker in his first NFL start, throwing for 405 yards in a 34-31 victory over future AFC champion Cincinnati last Halloween at MetLife Stadium.
Afterward, he said, “At first, I had to kind of listen again, like, ‘Are they chanting my name?’ ”
They were chanting it again when Flacco flopped in an opening day loss to the Ravens on Sept. 11, and they would have been chanting it at their television screens on Sunday had the Browns’ Chubb taken a knee and run out the clock instead of scoring a late touchdown that put the Browns ahead 30-17.
That unwise decision opened the door to a miraculous Jets comeback for a 31-30 victory that included two touchdown passes by Flacco in the final 1:22 and inspired a celebratory scream from the old quarterback as he entered the winning locker room.
“We were all in there all jumping around and just watching Joe and he’s jumping higher than anyone, damn near hitting the ceiling,” tight end Tyler Conklin said on Monday.
Conklin added that he was happy Flacco was able to “go out there and show everybody that he’s still Joe Flacco and can still do this.”
Flacco, 37, finished with 307 passing yards and four touchdown passes.
It was a great moment for a guy who won a Super Bowl a decade ago and had been 0-6 as a starter with the Jets since 2020.
“I think when you build a bond between teammates and you have been through tough times, it makes doing something special that much sweeter,” Flacco said on Sunday.
The neck-spraining turnaround in fortunes spun the quarterback conversation in a new direction in advance of this weekend’s return visit by the winless Bengals.
If Flacco and the Jets get on a hot streak, should Saleh keep second-year man Zach Wilson on the sideline even when Wilson’s injured right knee is good to go?
In a word: No. No, no, no, no, no. No!
If Flacco is playing well and Wilson can buy another week to heal more fully, fine. But the Jets cannot stall the future for a short-term playoff fantasy.
They must keep the main thing the main thing, a favorite phrase of Saleh’s, and the main thing is assessing and/or developing Wilson.
When I asked Saleh about all this on his Monday video news conference, he gave the correct answer, saying Flacco’s performance and Wilson’s return to health are “separate” matters.
That handoff could take place as early as Week 4 against the Steelers, but Saleh left that timeline wide open.
Mostly, the coach was interested in talking about how good Flacco has looked dating to training camp.
“He can still play in this league, and he can still sling it, and he proved that [Sunday],” Saleh said. “I mean, that’s a big day to go over three bills and four touchdowns. That’s star-quality football, for sure.”
If the Jets work their way into contention and making a quarterback change rubs some veterans the wrong way, so be it.
That was what happened when Giants coach Tom Coughlin benched Kurt Warner with the team at 5-4 in 2004, and young Eli Manning promptly went 1-6.
In 2005, the Giants went 11-5. Two seasons later, they won the Super Bowl.
This is no knock on Flacco. He got the job done on Sunday and still has the arm to get the job done against the Bengals.
Good for him! And if he gets the Jets to 2-1, thus taking some must-win pressure off Wilson if he returns against the Steelers the following week, all the better.
As special as that victory over the Bengals was last year, White soon got hurt, the Jets lost eight of their last 10 games, and White’s big day was rendered a footnote.
The Jets hope to build on this year’s shocker, as they should. But win or lose this week or the next or the next, it’s Wilson job to reclaim.
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.
