It is, of course, still a work in progress. One that may or may not pan out.
No one really knows where Zach Wilson is going to take this — take the Jets, take his career. But the past two weeks have been encouraging, though far from a finished product.
A walk through the Jets’ locker room on Friday — two days before their possible season-turning home game against the 5-0 Super Bowl runner-up Eagles — conversations with the offensive players around Wilson about Wilson resulted in this common denominator: He’s a more confident quarterback than he was yesterday, last week, two weeks ago, last season.
Wilson will enter the game Sunday coming off two representative weeks. He was 28-for-39 (71.8 percent) for 245 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 23-20 loss to the Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Last week, he was 19-for-26 (73.1 percent) for 199 yards with no touchdowns and one interception in a 31-21 win over the Broncos.
“I’m seeing a lot of growth and confidence in him and him believing in his ability and his reads,” receiver Allen Lazard told The Post Friday.
“I definitely sense that and it’s in practice where you start to see it,” tight end Tyler Conklin told The Post. “He feels very confident.”
It is, of course, easier to feel confident against a dysfunctional Denver team than it will be against the Eagles on Sunday, when the degree of difficulty ratchets up for all of the Jets.
Instead of dealing with Sean Payton’s bumbling Broncos, Wilson will be dealing with an Eagles front seven of that includes game wreckers Fletcher Cox (seven QB hits), Haason Reddick (three sacks, five QB hits), Josh Sweat (2.5 sacks, nine QB hits), Nicholas Morrow (three sacks, seven tackles for loss, four QB hits, two safeties). Jalen Carter (3.5 sacks, four QB hits) was ruled out on Friday with an ankle injury.
That said, it’s difficult to measure the power a victory over the Eagles might have on Wilson and the entire team, given their disastrous start this season, when Aaron Rodgers ruptured his left Achilles tendon moments into the opener.
To get to 3-3 at their bye week after all that has happened would be a remarkable achievement. The Jets’ entire 2023 was built around Rodgers for a Super Bowl run. That was sabotaged early in the opener, sending the Jets into an emotional tailspin.
If Wilson is able to continue his efficient play, with a limit on mistakes, against the undefeated Eagles, who knows where that may take him?
“You’ve got to remember, in this world when you go through traumatic experiences — it doesn’t matter whether it’s in your personal life or professionally — it takes a second to get your footing,’’ Jets tackle Billy Turner told The Post on Friday. “The whole thing happening with Aaron and the expectations and everything we had built around him blew up in front of us. And when stuff like that happens, it’s hard to just get your footing.
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“The past couple of weeks, [Wilson] definitely has more confidence, and I expect not only him but our offense to continue to move forward and climb that mountain.’’
It’s a steep mountain, beginning with the Eagles on Sunday, but it’s climbable.
Turner is in his first season with the Jets and has no history with Wilson, but his words — metaphorically — could easily refer to the Jets’ third-year quarterback, whose first two seasons have been spotty at best.
A line of demarcation for Wilson, who has spent too much of his career looking like a player afraid to make mistakes, may have been the game against Kansas City two weeks ago. Once the Jets were down early, Wilson, looking oddly liberated for a change, began to sling it around, utilizing his greatest asset — his live arm.
“Rather than thinking, [he’s] just reacting to what the defense is doing,’’ Lazard said. “When he does that, he makes great throws, like the touchdown he threw to me against the Chiefs [that tied the game at 20-20 in the third quarter]. That was not an easy throw. Since the Kansas City game, you see the confidence.’’
Receiver Randall Cobb recalled watching film of the game against the Chiefs and taking note of the way Wilson “was looking off the safety and letting it rip.’’
“That’s what big-time players do in those situations, and that’s what Zach was doing,’’ Cobb said. “I’ve definitely seen a growth in his demeanor. I don’t know what brought him to this place, but I’m very proud of where he’s gotten himself.’’
Conklin offered a highly unscientific theory about Wilson’s advancement the past two games.
“I think it’s the fact that he took the headband off,’’ Conklin joked. “Two games in a row without the headband.’’
Whatever works. The Jets can use every last ounce of it on Sunday. It may save their season.