He acted and sounded the way the franchise quarterback is supposed to act and sound, toward the end of a week when he could easily have felt like a pariah and been reduced to a quarterback basket case.
Zach Wilson went out of the frying pan and into the fire on Thursday inside the locker room as Jets fans, even those not named Joe Namath, wish he would show up on Any Given Sunday, especially this one with Patrick Mahomes on the other side, and act like a franchise quarterback and sound like one afterward.
When I asked him what he would tell Jets fans who have soured on him, Wilson said: “Keep believing. Keep believing.
“We’re doing everything we can — we hope that their passion shows us that we’re just as passionate as they are. We want to get this thing going just as bad as they want it to.”
It is so difficult for them or for anyone to believe when Wilson hasn’t shown that he can get his team in the end zone, much less punch his way out of a brown paper bag.
But he looks you in the eye nevertheless and tells you: “We’re three games into the season. There’s no reason to freak out and panic right now.
“I think we’re close.”
It is the only way for him to think, the only thing for him to say.
Only two years ago, he was the toast of the town, branded by Tony Romo as a quarterback with a Mahomes ceiling … and now, he is on the brink of being toast if he cannot get off the canvas.
New York can be a town without pity for a wide-eyed kid from Draper, Utah. Who was supposed to be standing on the sideline watching Aaron Rodgers this season after two years of surrendering his right to the starting job.
“It’s exactly what I expected,” Wilson said. “But I would hope that things could have gone better, of course. I understand the frustration with the outside and I get it. It hasn’t been as good as what I’ve wanted either.
“All I can do is just progressively keep trying to work to improve and get better, and I think it comes down to just that, ignoring the noise and focusing on the things I need to focus on.”
If the slings and arrows have even slightly penetrated his outer armor, he isn’t saying. Nor should he.
In fact, when you ask him if it had been easy for him to ignore the outside noise, he says: “It is. It’s been tough, obviously these three years, and so I feel like I’m in a good spot mentally with where I am, and I’m confident in my ability, I’m confident in this team. All that matters is what goes on in this locker room and the film room with these coaches. … We’re gonna handle our business.”
He was wearing a black “I Got Your Back” T-shirt and chuckled when someone worded a question this way: “What did you do to insult Joe Namath?” When the franchise icon tells the world that he has seen enough of you, you can’t help but hear it.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s passionate, he’s obviously one of the greats,” Wilson said, “and so as an offense we gotta do everything we can just to try to prove him wrong.”
In a different era, in different circumstances, a quarterback might have felt compelled to make a guarantee about proving a critic or critics wrong. Wilson doesn’t wear a Fu Manchu or a fur coat or white shoes … or his anger on his sleeve.
“I don’t know if I would say it fuels me because I like to ignore it,” he said. “I get the passion and the frustration, absolutely. But my job as a quarterback is to focus on how I can be better, how I can help this offense score, how I can help us win games, and it needs to improve and it needs to get better.”
The Chiefs, of course will dare Wilson to beat them, because it would be folly not to. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett needs to go hurry-up earlier, and he needs to get speed demon Mecole Hardman on the field, and he needs to throw more on first down, and Robert Saleh doesn’t need to be kicking field goals, and a trick play wouldn’t hurt, either.
Elementary, my dear Mr. Wilson: get the ball out of your hands and into the hands of your playmakers. See No. 17, Garrett Wilson? Try throwing it to him. Early and often.
And dial up Rodgers since this is his offense.
“I’m sure we’ll have a conversation here pretty soon,” Zach Wilson said.
Bring on Mahomes and the Chiefs?
“I’m really excited for the challenge,” Wilson said.
Ya Gotta Believe. Even if you are one of the only ones who does.