It looks like Zach Wilson will remain the New York Jets' starting quarterback for at least a little while longer. That's according to head coach Robert Saleh, who told reporters on Monday that he does not anticipate the team adding another quarterback to the roster this week.
Wilson struggled for most of the game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, completing just 12 of 27 passes for 170 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. The picks all came in the fourth quarter, but Wilson had not been particularly effective prior to that, as he was just 7 of 14 for 116 yards and the aforementioned score, which came on a quick slant to Garrett Wilson that he took 68 yards to the house, thanks to a missed tackle by Cowboys safety Malik Hooker.
Still, Saleh thought that Wilson showed some things on Sunday.
"Anyone who watches football -- and you look at it from a global standpoint -- will see that he's so much improved in the pocket, his presence in the pocket," Saleh said, via ESPN. "I thought he delivered a lot of really good passes. ... He took care of the ball. He scrambled when he needed to. He stepped up in the pocket when he needed to.
"Did it get away from him in the fourth quarter, when I felt like he was trying to make a play with us being down three scores? Yeah, he made a couple of throws that he didn't need to make. But up until then, I felt like if we could have just got them the damn ball and gave them some more opportunities, I think people were seeing that he was playing pretty well up until when it was garbage time and he was trying to force the ball."
Wilson did scramble away from pressure five times for 36 yards, but he also took three sacks and turned the ball over once while running away from an incoming Micah Parsons. The Jets gained just 93 yards on 32 plays with their seven non-touchdown drives prior to his interception spree, so they had not been moving the ball with any degree of consistency even before they were down big enough that Wilson felt he had to force the issue.
Saleh is in a tough position where he probably has to back Wilson publicly because, well, what else is he going to do? But Wilson did not play well even outside of the interceptions, and the Jets need to acknowledge that if they're going to fix the offensive issues that will almost surely arise the rest of the way.
