New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh made a big decision today when he told his team during their morning meeting that Mike White would be their starting quarterback this week.
On top of that, he wasn’t just moving Zach Wilson to the bench for the time being. It was later reported that the 2021 second-overall pick wouldn’t even be suiting up for the team’s week 13 battle with the Chicago Bears.
Instead, Joe Flacco will dress as the backup after being inactive for the last several weeks.
There’s no doubt that the benching is mainly the result of Wilson’s struggles under center this year. Despite a 5-2 record as the starter, he’s completing just 55.6 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and five interceptions.
However, you can’t help but think that the final straw for Wilson came during his post-game press conference, following his team’s week 11 loss to the Patriots.
After completing just nine passes for 77 yards in a 10-3 loss, Wilson was asked if he felt as though he had let the defense down with his performance. Rather than take accountability, the Jets QB replied with an emphatic, “no.”
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Today, while speaking to the media for the first time since his benching, Wilson addressed Robert Saleh’s decision.
To Wilson’s credit, he did take some accountability this time, admitting he handled his last press conference poorly. The 23-year-old said he addressed it with his teammates, calling it “a situation I knew I had to bring up to them.”
Wilson described the benching as “tough” and “humbling,” but he also admitted that this is an opportunity for him to “put my head down and work harder.”
Zach Wilson is saying all the right things at the moment, but it’ll be interesting to see if he actually follows through and uses this time off to turn his career around. If so, we could be seeing him again at some point this season.
If not, we may very well have seen the last of Zach Wilson in a Jets uniform.
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