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WARE, England – Questions about the Jets’ offense changed this week after they were answered.
The Jets had their best day of the season on offense in Sunday’s 27-24 overtime victory over the Titans, with season highs in points, yards (355) and passing yards (289 ). Now they hope to build on that performance this Sunday against the Falcons in London.
“I really feel like now we understand that we’re really close to being a really good offense and just a team in general,” said rookie quarterback Zach Wilson. “There are certainly things that we are still cleaning up, but it really felt like it was next week, that there should be no hesitation. The confidence from the start to be able to drive the ball onto the pitch and do certain things in all phases of the game. I really feel like that helped a lot last week.
Wilson got rid of a few bad weeks to have his best game, and offense followed. The Falcons enter this week with the worst scoring defense in the NFL and few players on either side of the ball that should scare the Jets. It’s like the Jets can grab a second straight win and gain momentum.
“You’re hoping it will translate, but it’s a young group,” said Jets head coach Robert Saleh. ” We have already talked about that. When you have a young group and they have early success you never know what they can snowball into. They become invincible. You were all young once, we were jumping off a roof, we didn’t think twice, did we? But it’s the same thing. They get the ball rolling, they gain confidence and all their athleticism comes out and you just see the speed building up. I have the impression that this is what you saw, especially in the second half, in all three phases. So, yeah, starting fast is a big deal for these young men, but at the same time, if we can just get the ball rolling, whether it’s in the first or second quarter, it feels like good things can happen.
One thing the Jets haven’t done this year (even last week) is start quickly, something Saleh has benchmarked. The Jets have yet to score in the first quarter and were outscored 55-10 in the first half of games.
They managed to get over their slow start last week, but Wilson said a quick start is important and the team has spoken about it.
“I think yeah that’s for sure, because you never want to play from behind,” Wilson said. “But there’s also the mentality that sometimes we’re not always going to start quickly and maybe that’s how you end. We must be able to continue to fight. So you can look at it from both sides. But of course you preach it, we want to start fast, we want to go out early on and let them know what kind of team we have.
All eyes will be on Wilson. It is the centerpiece of this game for the British public. During his press briefing on Friday, the British press was very interested in the young quarterback.
They asked him if he was a football fan, since he will be playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“I don’t watch football a lot, but it’s a cool sport,” he said.
There were other questions, about BYU and his transition to the NFL.
The key for Wilson – and for the Jets – will be balancing the off-script shots he showed last week with operations inside the offense as well. Saleh said the Jets didn’t want to take away his big play ability.
“You just want him to play ball,” Saleh said. “These are the things that make these players special. I’ve said it before here, Aaron Rodgers and [Patrick] Mahomes, they have every credit for throwing the ball deep and doing all that, but they’re also playing a game management game and they’re just waiting for you. So there’s a feeling that Zach is going to have, and you don’t want to force a young man, put him in a box, we never want to do that. But the more he learns the game, the more he feels the speed of the game, the more he will know exactly when to choose his shots. And when he does, just like [last] Sunday they will be explosive and I hope he learns faster.
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