Zach Wilson didn’t make any spectacular throws on Saturday night time, however he did have a highlight-reel run.
The Jets quarterback scampered for a 35-yard acquire within the second quarter, escaping a close to sack by Patrick O’Connor after which juking J.J. Russell and Anthony Nelson earlier than working up the sideline for the lengthy acquire in a 13-6 loss to the Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium.
It’s debateable whether or not it was sensible for Wilson to attempt to decide up the additional yards by slicing again in and decreasing his shoulder.
A yr in the past, he suffered a knee harm on a preseason scramble towards the Eagles and missed the primary three video games of the season.
This will likely have been Wilson’s final begin for an extended whereas. Jets head coach Robert Saleh has left the door open for Aaron Rodgers to start out the preseason finale with the Giants subsequent Saturday.
Wilson absolutely would nonetheless play in that recreation, however he’ll come off the bench in his new position as Rodgers’ backup. Wilson, who has began the primary three preseason video games, performed the primary half final night time after which exited at halftime.
Wilson had no spotlight throws on this recreation.
He additionally had no main errors.
He did have one close to interception, however a Tampa Bay defender couldn’t reel it in.
Wilson went 9-for-13 passing for 70 yards.
His passer ranking was 82.2 and he threw principally brief passes, averaging 3.6 air yards per try.
His longest move was a 26-yard acquire by rookie Jason Brownlee.
It has been a principally optimistic preseason for Wilson, who misplaced his standing because the face of the franchise and quarterback of the long run with a horrible 2022 season.
Wilson’s struggles led the Jets to hunt a brand new quarterback this offseason, and so they traded for Rodgers in April.
The Jets have been supportive of Wilson and have mentioned they need him to regain his confidence and hope he has a future with the group.
That each one could also be true, however in addition they will probably be hoping Wilson gained’t jhave to play in any respect within the common season this yr.
The Jets are banking on Rodgers main them to the playoffs and presumably the Tremendous Bowl.
Whereas Wilson has had some first rate moments in coaching camp, he nonetheless can’t be anticipated to guide the Jets in regular-season video games.
On the primary sequence towards the Buccaneers, Wilson had a second-down throw that went behind Allen Lazard after which scrambled for six yards on third-and-10, forcing the Jets to punt.
Wilson had some essential third-down passes for first downs on the Jets’ subsequent sequence. He hit Brownlee for 8 yards after which went to Lazard for a 16-yard acquire.
The Jets had a pleasant drive going, however a holding penalty on Tyler Conklin on the Tampa Bay 14 sucked the momentum from the drive.
Wilson ended up throwing to Brownlee for a 5-yard acquire on third-and-14 and Greg Zuerlein made a 31-yard purpose to present the Jets a 3-0 lead firstly of the second quarter.
Tampa Bay tied the sport at 3-3 after Jets working again Zonovan Knight fumbled the ball and the Buccaneers recovered to arrange a Rodrigo Blankenship discipline purpose. With the acquisition of Dalvin Prepare dinner this week, Knight is squarely on the roster bubble and he didn’t assist himself with the fumble and a dropped move.
The Jets put collectively one other field-goal drive within the second quarter behind a 26-yard move from Wilson to Brownlee after which Wilson’s 35-yard run. Zuerlein ended up making a 38-yard discipline purpose for a 6-3 Jets lead.
The Buccaneers then hit the Jets’ protection with two large performs on a scoring drive earlier than halftime.
First, the Jets gave up a 27-yard run to Sean Tucker on a fourth-and-1 play.
Quarterback Kyle Trask adopted that up with a fairly 33-yard landing move to rookie Trey Palmer, who beat cornerback Derrick Langford on the play.
Trask is in a battle with Baker Mayfield for the Buccaneers’ beginning quarterback job. This was Trask’s preseason recreation to start out and his landing move gave the Buccaneers a 10-6 lead at halftime.
