There’s no denying how poorly Zach Wilson has played through his first three games in the NFL.
He leads the league in interceptions (7) and sacks (15) and he has notoriously held the ball too long and forced passes that led to interceptions. Wilson needs to adjust, develop and refine his process as his rookie season progresses. Without that, the Jets will continue to flounder and stay at the bottom of the league.
But Wilson and the Jets’ offensive struggles aren’t his alone. The team around the quarterback – from the personnel to the coaching staff – has played a major part in Wilson’s early-career woes.
Just look at Wilson’s adjusted completion percentage – which takes drops and would-be receptions into account – compared to his actual completion percentage. Wilson ranks second-worst in the league with a 55.2 completion percentage, but his adjusted completion percentage sits at 70.4 percent. While that’s still not great – it ranks 33rd, according to the Daily News’ DJ Biene-Aime, the difference is stark.
New York’s offensive line remains one of, if not the top, culprits in Wilson’s early struggles. The 15 sacks through three weeks are certainly bad, but Wilson’s been pressured on a league-high 38.5 percent of his drop-backs on just the 11th-most blitzes. Even worse, six of Wilson’s interceptions and 11 of his quarterback hits came against four-man rushes, according to ESPN. Now, Wilson does lead the league in sacks at least 4.5 seconds after the snap, according to NextGen Stats, but the offensive line can’t pin coverage sacks on Wilson, too.
Wilson’s skill position players around him haven’t helped, either – both as blockers and as pass-catchers.
New York’s running backs and tight ends are critical to the zone-blocking scheme at times but have allowed nine pressures combined this season. That’s more than double the league average, according to Jets X-Factor’s Michael Nania. The Jets’ receivers have also dropped the ball 11 times through three games, according to Biene-Aime, which is second-most in the league behind the Steelers. Corey Davis has accounted for at least three drops alone this season.
The receivers haven’t been able to separate from their defenders to give Wilson a good window to throw, either. Davis, for instance, ranks 39th in target separation with 1.82 yards, according to PlayerProfiler.com. Elijah Moore is a little better with two yards per target – good for 26th. Braxton Berrios remains the most reliable receiver on the Jets who also gets open. He ranks 15th with 2.29 yards of separation per target.
Finally, the Jets’ inability to establish the run played a role in Wilson’s inability to execute as a passer and the teams’ ability to sustain drives and score points. New York ranks 29th in rushing yards per game and is tied for 19th in rushing yards per attempt. Those aren’t numbers that win you games, and they certainly won’t help you build successful offenses when your quarterback is still learning. This is equally split between the running backs, the offensive line, and OC Mike LaFleur.
This is not to absolve Wilson of his performance, nor is it to shift blame entirely onto others. As noted earlier, Wilson seems to be repeating a lot of the same mistakes by not throwing the ball quick enough, checking down to his underneath options nor just not throwing to covered receivers.
But playing quarterback in the NFL is hard, and the Jets aren’t making the rookie’s life any easier.
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