After strongly defending Zach Wilson on Monday, Jets coach Robert Saleh did say on Wednesday that the third-year quarterback needs to improve.
“We all acknowledge he has to play better,” Saleh said. “We all acknowledge that. He acknowledges that. Teammates acknowledge it. He acknowledges it himself.”
Jets fans, from Joe Namath to Joe Benigno, are tired of seeing Wilson after Sunday’s 15-10 loss to the Patriots.
The Jets don’t have anywhere to turn right now, though, and Saleh is doing his best to build up Wilson’s confidence.
Wilson clearly lost confidence last season and the Jets are trying to avoid a repeat of that happening.
“The key is to have confidence in yourself. You have to,” Saleh said. “You’ve got to continually stack good days. You go out and you own your moments. You go out to practice.
“You dominate practice. You’ve got to find a way to gain the momentum of practice and transfer that over to the game. For him, he definitely needs to get better. At the same time, you’ve got to maintain your belief in yourself and your teammates and play within yourself and not press and try to make things happen, play within the structure of your offense, get the ball to your playmakers and let your playmakers go to work.
“As soon as that starts happen and the ball gets rolling in that regard, that’s when the confidence will start to stack.”
Saleh also commented on some recent stories surrounding the team.
On Joe Namath blasting the team on “The Michael Kay Show” on Monday: “Obviously, Joe is an icon, a Hall of Famer and a well-respected individual in this organization. The door’s always open for him to walk in. My office is always open for him. We’ll agree to disagree with his comments, but he is entitled to those comments.”
On Aaron Rodgers’ comments on “The Pat McAfee Show” about the team needing to show more poise: “He’s as much of a coach as he is a player. He’s been around youth and he’s been around adversity. He’s seen it all. For him to recognize that and talk through it, he’s not wrong in that when you have frustration, it’s easy to look for answers when sometimes the most important answer is inward. It’s the only way you can defeat adversity is to look inward and find ways to be your personal best.
“He’s not wrong, but at the same time it’s just a bunch of young guys showing a little bit of frustration so they’ll be all right.”
On frustration taking over the locker room: “Is there frustration? Of course there is. Anytime you lose two in a row there’s going to be frustration. It’s the NFL. When you lose, it feels like the world’s caving in. When you win, everyone puts you on a pedestal. There’s still a lot of confidence in the locker room.”