The Jets, at least according to head coach Robert Saleh, aren’t receiving demands from the front office to keep playing Zach Wilson despite his continued struggles and a poor Jets offense.
Everyone within the organization remains in lockstep with Wilson’s status as their starting quarterback for Week 10 against the Raiders.
“We’re all on the same page with that,” Saleh said Wednesday. “So any conspiracy theory that might be out there, we’re on the same page.”
Saleh reiterated Wednesday that the Jets don’t plan to give Tim Boyle or Trevor Siemian first-team reps at practice, and he also said that Wilson has put the Jets in position to win games late — citing examples against the Giants, Broncos and Eagles, where they moved the ball in the fourth quarter.
Other drives included positives from Wilson even if they ended with field goals, Saleh added.
Still, the Jets (4-4) are facing a crossroads — for the second consecutive season — at quarterback, with Wilson out of rhythm after early-season strides and Aaron Rodgers still recovering from his torn Achilles.
“Obviously, it’s not the Greatest Show on Turf,” Saleh said. “Obviously, he knows that there’s a lot of things that he can do better. There’s a lot of things we can all do better. And yeah, he needs to get better. He knows that.
“But I know the knee-jerk reaction is to always hit the panic button … He’s doing the best he can. But again, he still needs to get better.”
There hasn’t been tension or drama like last season, when Garrett Wilson, then a rookie, blasted the offense following a Nov. 20 loss to the Patriots and said “this s–t’s sorry.” That had tension. That had drama.
While Garrett Wilson didn’t specifically target his quarterback, Zach Wilson had lost the locker room with his string of horrible performances.
Before the Jets’ next game, Saleh turned to Mike White.
The pressure keeps mounting — for Saleh and GM Joe Douglas, for anyone and everyone associated with the Jets — to end their 12-year playoff drought.
Their defense has allowed the ninth-fewest yards per game. The eighth-fewest points per game.
When Saleh gathered the Jets for a preseason meeting captured by “Hard Knocks,” he called out the offensive line and challenged them to not be the reason the offense dragged.
Saleh hyped up Allen Lazard. He hyped up Garrett Wilson. And he said — with plenty of F-bombs — that nothing mattered until the “big boys up front change who the f–k we are.”
“We proved last year that we’re a 7-10 football team with a really f–king good defense and a mediocre offense,” Saleh said at the time.
The defense has remained strong and near the top of the NFL.
The offense has hovered near mediocre — with problems extending beyond the offensive line and revolving around the quarterback tasked with replacing Rodgers.
Still, Saleh has remained loyal to Wilson. That appears to be a call completely made by Saleh and his staff, too.
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