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The little things were the hardest for Zach Wilson to accomplish in the first half of the season. Instead of taking care of the football and living to play another down, Wilson often tried to force the issue, placing the Jets in precarious positions.
Such was the case Sunday against the Texans when New York’s prized rookie quarterback shoveled a mind-blowingly bad interception early in his return from a sprained PCL. But after that, Wilson mostly accomplished what Robert Saleh has been looking for out of him all season.
Wilson managed the game and put the Jets in a position to win — which they did — even though he wasn’t at his best.
The Jets went into salt away mode late in the fourth quarter clinging to an 18-14 lead. A hobbled Wilson, who said postgame that his knee still isn’t 100 percent stable, made all of the right decisions — including two on fourth down — to give New York the best possible chance to put the Texans away. He kept the ball out of Houston’s grasp and took time off the clock, forcing the Texans to use all of their timeouts.
“He was fine,” Saleh said. “Obviously, there was a little rust there after a month. I thought he managed the game well.”
Mike LaFleur ultimately leaned on his ground game with Wilson going just 14-24 for 145 yards and the aforementioned interception. But Wilson made throws when he had to, helping the Jets move the chains on third down in key spots.
“Offense was running the heck out of the football and he was doing a good job on third down, so it was just a good day of managing the game,” Saleh said.
The Jets need more out of Wilson through the air and their offense did not exactly operate proficiently with the BYU product back under center. Nonetheless, Wilson took a major step forward against the Texans by showing that he can buckle down, keep the ball in his team’s possession and make the necessary plays to win a game down the stretch.
“You have to be able to come out and play well,” Wilson said. “I’ve had this whole time to watch and learn from everybody else and I thought I had my best week of practice, so now I just have to put it to the field and get better and understand this part of the process and just have that chip on my shoulder.”
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