{"id":10593,"date":"2023-11-22T12:45:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T09:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/10593\/jets-zach-wilson-rejects-scapegoat\/"},"modified":"2023-11-22T12:45:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T09:45:04","slug":"jets-zach-wilson-rejects-scapegoat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=10593","title":{"rendered":"Jets&#8217; Zach Wilson rejects &#8216;scapegoat&#8217; tag after being benched"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jets&#8217; Zach Wilson rejects &#8216;scapegoat&#8217; tag after being benched\u060c<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><\/div>\n<p>Rich Cimini, ESPN editor<span class=\"timestamp \">November 22, 2023, 12:52 a.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\">Close<\/p>\n<ul>Rich Cimini is a writer who covers the New York Jets and the NFL on ESPN.  Rich has covered the Jets for over 30 years and joined ESPN in 2010. Rich also hosts the Flight Deck podcast.  He was previously a writer for the New York Daily News and graduated from Syracuse University.  You can follow him via Twitter @RichCimini.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>FLORHAM PARK, NJ \u2013 Exactly one year ago, New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson was on the bench for the first time.  This one, he says, is different.<\/p>\n<p>Although he accepted his latest demotion without objection, Wilson said he believes he is an improved player who has paid the price for an offense that has scored just nine touchdowns in 10 games.  But he doesn&#8217;t think he was treated unfairly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I was a scapegoat. Absolutely not,&#8221; he said Tuesday.  &#8220;You have to look at the situation. We&#8217;re not scoring touchdowns. No matter what I do, my job as quarterback is to help us score points. I can sit here and say I had some a lot of growth and great whatever this year, but if you don&#8217;t score touchdowns, it doesn&#8217;t matter. It really doesn&#8217;t. And I understand that.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Wilson \u2013 drafted No. 2 in 2021 \u2013 was replaced by journeyman Tim Boyle, who will <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/start\/\"   title=\"start\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">start<\/a> Friday against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium.  Boyle will be their third starter.  Aaron Rodgers played only four games before tearing an Achilles tendon, forcing Wilson back into the lineup in what was supposed to be a &#8220;redshirt year,&#8221; as coach Robert Saleh called it.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Choice<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Wilson lost his grip on the starting job on November 22, when he was benched in favor of Mike White.  A poor performance against the New England Patriots, coupled with a postgame press conference in which he deflected blame, factored into that decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very different,\u201d Wilson said, comparing the two situations.  &#8220;Obviously I didn&#8217;t do anything good last year. It was well deserved. I felt like it was deserved in the locker room. But where I&#8217;m at right now is is like we&#8217;re really struggling as an offense. It&#8217;s hard to point fingers at anyone. Hopefully we can figure things out and I&#8217;ll accept if that&#8217;s the problem.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Whatever happens, I just want this team to succeed. But this is different. I know I&#8217;m a different player. I know I&#8217;ve come a long way. I understand the game better, I feel confident while playing.&#8221; For some reason I can&#8217;t do it.  I understand this comes with the position.  It&#8217;s unfortunate, but I will continue to work.  &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Wilson showed occasional flashes in the Jets&#8217; four wins, but he struggled with consistency.  Out of 32 qualified passers, he ranks 30th in Total QBR (30.8), 32nd in completion percentage (59.2) and 30th in yards per attempt (6.1).  On Sunday, the Jets (4-6) lost their third straight game, falling to the Buffalo Bills 32-6.  Boyle replaced Wilson in the third quarter, clearing the way for a change.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of continuity on the offensive line has been a major problem.  The Jets used eight starting combinations and a league-high 11 total starters.  Against the Bills, the line included two players in their first NFL game: guard Chris Glaser and tackle Carter Warren.<\/p>\n<p>Not only was he benched, but Wilson was demoted to third, behind Boyle and Trevor Siemian, neither of whom were on the 53-<a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/man\/\"   title=\"man\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">man<\/a> roster at the start of the season.  Boyle was on the practice squad.  Siemian, who arrived at the end of September, was signed to the practice squad on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t take it personally,\u201d Wilson said of the drop on the depth chart.  \u201cIt\u2019s not a bullet against me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he was not at all surprised by Saleh&#8217;s decision.  Wilson, signed through 2024, said he hasn&#8217;t thought about his future.  With a cap hit of $11.2 million in 2024, it seems unlikely the former BYU star will be back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to see us succeed whether I&#8217;m on the field or not,\u201d said Wilson, whose record as a starter is 10-21.<\/p>\n<p>Saleh said he hopes Boyle can provide a much-needed spark against the powerful Dolphins.  Boyle is 0-3 as a starter (all with the Detroit Lions in 2021) and only has 120 career attempts, but he has played in this offense before and has experience with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett .<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not someone who\u2019s going to be shocked at that point,\u201d Boyle said, adding that he thinks \u201cyou have to feel unsafe out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boyle went undrafted in 2019 after a nondescript career at UConn and Eastern Kentucky.  He only had one season as a full-time starter and finished his career with more interceptions than touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccountability is the quarterback&#8217;s priority and I didn&#8217;t play well in <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/college\/\"   title=\"college\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">college<\/a>, but here I am in year six in the NFL,\u201d he said.  &#8220;I feel like I have enough. I can get the ball out on time and make all the throws. I can see in the pocket and be a good quarterback for this team, so that&#8217;s what I I intend to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jets&#8217; Zach Wilson rejects &#8216;scapegoat&#8217; tag after being benched\u060c Rich Cimini, ESPN editorNovember 22, 2023, 12:52 a.m. Close Rich Cimini is a writer who covers the New York Jets and the NFL on ESPN. Rich has covered the Jets for over 30 years and joined ESPN in 2010. Rich also hosts the Flight Deck podcast. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6140,1888,6139,4521,3550,4806,6029],"class_list":["post-10593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-benched","tag-jets","tag-rejects","tag-scapegoat","tag-tag","tag-wilson","tag-zach"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10595,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10593\/revisions\/10595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}