Jets QB Zach Wilson a changed man? We'll see on Sunday
Zach Wilson of the Jets looks on in the second half of a game against the Chicago Bears at MetLife Stadium on November 27, 2022. Credit: Getty Images/Mike Stobe
Let’s see what’s transpired in the sports world since Nov. 20, shall we?
The World Cup was just starting and the U.S. national team had yet to play a game in the group stage. They’ve long been eliminated from the tournament.
Jacob deGrom still was a Met. Now Justin Verlander is, along with a very wealthy cadre of others who have illustrated the depths of Steve Cohen’s desire to put a winning team in Flushing (not to mention the depths of his wallet).
Ohio State, which was the second-best college football team in the country, has since lost to Michigan, was discarded as an afterthought, but wound up with the fourth and final spot in the national championship bracket.
A lot can change in a month.
On Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, we’ll get to see if Zach Wilson has, too.
The second-year quarterback has not thrown a pass in a game since that Week 11 loss to the Patriots on Nov. 20, the one that ended with a stunning punt return for a touchdown as time was expiring but is most remembered for the young quarterback’s refusal to take accountability — both to the fans and via his public comments to his teammates — for his role in the defeat. He spent the following three weeks exiled in practice purgatory, going through the remedial version of the workouts, fixing his footwork and arm angles, while the rest of the team galvanized itself behind his replacement, Mike White.
But White injured his ribs last week against the Bills and couldn’t find a doctor willing to clear him for contact in this game against the Lions.
So now Wilson gets a rare opportunity in the NFL. He gets to clean up his own mess. He gets to be not only the villain of the season but the possible hero too.
Whether or not he can is why we’ll be tuned in.
It goes without saying this is a significant point in the 2022 campaign for the Jets, a team that has lost two in a row and is on the outside of the playoff picture with four games to play. They need wins, and these games against the Lions and the Jaguars on Thursday night present fairly decent opportunities for such.
At least they did when White was going to be El Cid-ing the gang onto the field, his midsection wrapped up tight to protect those vulnerable bones but his heart and guts free enough to remain his two best attributes.
It was abundantly clear that the Jets loved playing with White, even loved playing for White when they had to. We didn’t have to see the T-shirts extolling him as their guy to know he was. They illustrated it on the field.
Strangely enough, they won only one of his three starts, but his presence felt like a victory in itself. Things were beyond bleak when Wilson was last playing. The Jets’ record didn’t improve under White, but their morale and attitude certainly did, as did their optimism about the final four games.
It’s up to Wilson to keep those sentiments alive, to show he has rehabilitated himself in that toddler timeout not just as a quarterback but as a teammate. This may be his last chance to do so.
At the very least, this return to action should clarify his place in the organization moving forward.
If he plays well and wins and can muster a fraction of the on-field support from the rest of the Jets that White carried with him, he may yet have a place in the team’s future.
If he doesn’t, the Jets can in good conscience move on from him this offseason with the knowledge that he was given opportunities to change his techniques and his temperaments but could not — or would not — make the necessary adjustments.
Three weeks ago, when White helped beat the Bears and the fans at MetLife Stadium chanted his name, it seemed as if Wilson’s season was over and the Jets’ season was just beginning.
Three weeks from now, we’ll know if either take was true or not.
A lot can change in that relatively short amount of time.
Then again, Aaron Judge is still a Yankee.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
