Robert Saleh – Jets not changing QB despite sputtering offense،
The New York Jets have gone 11 straight quarters without a touchdown, but they don’t blame the quarterback.
In his latest defense of Zach Wilson, coach Robert Saleh said Wilson is “playing pretty well” and that it would be unfair to blame any player or coach for the team’s deep struggles.
“It’s hard to make changes just for the sake of making changes, just to appease something, especially when someone doesn’t deserve that,” Saleh said Monday. “If he deserved it, I got it, let’s change something. It’s always [the case] for each position.”
Along the same lines, Saleh said he plans to continue with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett as his facilitator.
The Jets (4-5), losers of two straight games, failed to reach the end zone for a second straight game in Sunday night’s 16-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. In the last two games, the Jets have accumulated almost as many penalties (17) as points (18).
In Vegas, Wilson tied a season-high with 263 passing yards – he also rushed for a season-high 54 yards – but he was intercepted with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter on the Raiders 15 yard line.
Since replacing the injured Aaron Rodgers in the opening series of Week 1, Wilson has orchestrated just eight touchdowns. He has just five touchdown passes, including one in the last five games.
The fan base is outraged, calling for Saleh to bench Wilson for Tim Boyle or Trevor Siemian (practice squad). Despite the mounting pressure, Saleh remains alongside the former No. 2 overall pick.
With an upcoming away game against the Buffalo Bills (5-4), Saleh said he’s “looking across the board” for ways to revive the offense, including schematic adjustments and personnel changes potential. But Wilson stays put.
“He’s doing much better than he was a year ago,” Saleh said. “He’s in his first year in a new system – a system that was built for Aaron – let’s be real – and we’re trying to make a change to where everyone feels comfortable.
“I think [Wilson] does a good job. Not everything is perfect – there have been ups and downs – but [Sunday] we were moving the ball. … Trying to pin everything on one person, with everything that’s happened, I don’t see how that would be productive.”
Saleh said he “never wanted to make a guy the punch guy who would make everyone around him better.” But that’s what he tried to do last season.
He benched Wilson twice in 2022, each time in favor of Mike White, who provided energetic, if not effective, football. White was 1-3, with three touchdowns and four interceptions, but the offense worked better with him than with Wilson. White signed as a free agent with the Miami Dolphins.
Clearly, Saleh doesn’t have that kind of confidence in Boyle or Siemian, who signed in late September.
With the offense stumbling and the defense holding opponents to 19 points per game, Saleh risks a crack in the locker room by opting for the status quo. Player frustration is increasing.
“The main thing is unity,” tight end Tyler Conklin said Monday. “We need to come together as a team and say, ‘What do we need to do to fix this offense? What do we need to do to run here?'”
After the game, wide receiver Garrett Wilson said a players-only meeting might do some good. At 4-5, Conklin believes it’s not too late to make the playoffs.
“Are we going to sit here, wave the white napkin and act like it’s the end of the world?” Conklin said. “Or are we going to come together as a team and stop making excuses or whatever happens from game to game and play play by play and fix it? Knowing the type of guys we have in this building, I have a feeling that this is something we can do.
