A pre-game apocalyptic storm destroyed many exit plans, flooding MetLife parking lots and trapping Jets fans in their cars. But it was okay. The gain would be worth the rain.
Zach Wilson was going to play football, after all. What more would you like to do in the stunning summer hours, but watch as a potential franchise quarterback throws spirals under the Friday night lights?
Even if it only lasted a couple of series, hey, it would be fun. Wilson was entering his last set-up, and then left the stadium knowing that the next time he wore a uniform it would be real. He would go head-to-head against the Panthers’ Sam Darnold, the last quarterback to change everything for the Jets. The guy who was fired because his bosses believe Wilson is the best man for the job.
And then something not so fun happened on the way to entertainment close to a productive preseason: Robert Saleh, rookie head coach, examined the instability of his offensive line and decided it would be a bad idea to expose Zach Wilson, rookie quarterback, and his best players in a position of skill in the face of the inherent dangers of a violent sport.
“It just wasn’t worth getting them out,” Saleh said after the Jets finished a wonderful game in the final two plays of the game, it was worth a 31-31 draw with the Eagles.
Saleh said his decision was made before the weather made a mess of the MetLife camp. He just didn’t want to take advantage of the kind of preseason opportunities the Jets coaches had had, and he lamented with Chad Pennington and Mark Sanchez.
“I wish I could play the whole game,” Wilson said previously.
“It always puts pressure,” Saleh said. “He wants to play. He wants to be out there. “
Wilson did not play a second. Instead, he stood on the sidelines with a ball and wore a hat, headset, long-sleeved shirt and shorts, while the Safety Jets played a rain-delayed game against an Eagles quarterback team. Joe Flacco. Wilson was considered too valuable to compete, but Philadelphia threw a 36-year-old former Super Bowl champion with 190 regular seasons and the postseason begins behind him. Strange how things work in the NFL.
But that was the good news on an almost pointless football night: the Jets now have a young quarterback worthy of protecting him as if he were a sacred roll.
Frankly, it never made sense for Wilson to play on wet court or dry court. Quarterbacks who have struggled enough to survive a 16-game regular season are asked to stay healthy for a 17-game regular season. Why expose the franchise’s most valuable asset to even unnecessary success, especially when it had already shown an advanced level in the preseason and when it seems like so much is being achieved in the joint practices that are in vogue in the NFL current?
Even for the poorly trained eyes, Wilson has shown mobility to play games, a strong and precise arm and a talent for throwing to the right receiver. When the rookie is looking at an opposing defense, he clearly isn’t looking at a puzzle he can’t reconcile. On the contrary, it seems to look at a very readable menu with all sorts of delicious options.
“He’s number 2 for a reason, I can tell,” Jets quarterback Josh Johnson, a 35-year-old master, said. “The kid has a chance to be really special, but he has all the makeup to be special. He takes it seriously every day. He focuses on his craft, he doesn’t take things for granted. He’s always learning and he’s very humble. for me how he is doing his job ”.
That’s why Saleh speaks of Wilson’s preparation or process, as “light years beyond a normal novice.”
Wilson was smart enough to take advantage of every preseason minute he spent with the Packers ’Aaron Rodgers, picking his idol’s brain over what it takes to win on Sundays. The boy gets it, so no, Saleh didn’t need to see much more before Wilson played his first game that counts. The coach was crazy enough to run up and down the stadium steps on Friday evening, honoring his pre-match ritual in the rain. But he wasn’t crazy enough to put Wilson in the game.
So while Darnold made a statement for the Panthers, throwing two touchdown passes against the Steelers, the Jets made their own statement to the Meadowlands with Darnold’s substitute. They didn’t take risks with Zach Wilson.
As of Sept. 12 in Carolina, all the rookie has to do is prove that it was worth protecting him.