Zach Wilson Reality Jets fans will just have to accept



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The child looks lost. Robert Saleh’s Jets look like an expansion team. You suffered through Adam Gase and 2-14 and now this?

You are a long-suffering Jets fan and of course you deserve better.

And of course you don’t want to hear how John Elway, Peyton, and Eli Manning fought mightily when they were cast to the Wolves.

Understood. Any fan base that has been waiting 53 years for a second Super Bowl Championship doesn’t want to hear something like it’s always darker before dawn when dawn never seems to come.

And of course, you don’t want to hear that Zach Wilson isn’t the only struggling rookie quarterback. Remember how you tanked for Trevor? How’s it going in Jacksonville right now?

You are not asking for miracles. You just want hope.

Your plea to the Jets is as follows:

PLEASE DON’T RUIN ZACH WILSON.

You couldn’t wait to see The Kid spraying the ball all over the place, doing all those Aaron Rodgers off-platform throws. After three seasons, you had doubts about Sam Darnold, and that’s understandable. And of course, with better training and a better team around him, Sam Darnold is 3-0 in Carolina.

I don’t know if Zach Wilson will ever be what Joe Douglas and Saleh think he will be. No one does. Not even them. Hell, I thought Darnold might have a statue of himself erected outside the Atlantic Health Jets training facility after lighting up the Lions in his first prime-time rookie game at Ford Field.

But in the meantime, how about giving The Kid more than a three-game honeymoon?

Isn’t that fair?

“Really,” said Jets Hall of Fame fan Ira From Staten Island, “you have to give him at least eight weeks to see where he’s at, and really two years to really sum it up.”

Zach Wilson
Zach Wilson
Bill Kostroun / New York Post

But The Long-Suffering Jet Fan can’t help but be grieved with their worst fear:

“With the history of the Jets of what they’ve been up to at quarterbacks, and with a rookie coaching staff and a kid who I think has all the talent in the world to truly be a quarterback, I think you’re asking a little a lot right now, and I think they’ve really made a big mistake by not having a veteran presence on the sidelines, ”Staten Island’s Ira said.

Indeed, Darnold himself can vouch for the benefits of a Josh McCown as a quarterback whisperer.

“I think it’s going to be a lot more growing pains than I expected,” said Ira of Staten Island.

How concerned is he? “Extremely,” said Ira of Staten Island. “Because of the franchise’s track history, to spit out the quarter after quarter that they ruined. Living him for so many years, I am extremely worried, the first returns.

Let me try to talk to Long-Suffering Jets Fan from the Rim.

The 2009 Jets went to the AFC Championship game with a rookie head coach (Rex Ryan) and rookie quarterback (Mark Sanchez), but the Jets had been a 9-7 contender under Eric Mangini in 2008 and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was selected for his fourth season.

Let me take you back to the 1989 season, when a Cowboys owner named Jerry Jones replaced legendary Tom Landry with a newly graduated University of Miami head coach named Jimmy Johnson.

Who used first draft pick UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman.

The first offensive coordinator was David Shula.

The Imperfect Storm: Rookie Head Coach, Rookie Quarterback, Rookie Offensive Coordinator.

Aikman, who signed a six-year, $ 11.2 million contract, the largest for an NFL rookie, recalled that day how he looked at former Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach on television. in Oklahoma.

“I remember all of those comeback wins and I would love to be a part of them someday,” said Aikman. “I can’t put myself in Roger’s shoes, but maybe I can do some of the things he’s done. “

Aikman started from day one. He was 17-for-35 for 180 yards and two interceptions in the Cowboys’ 28-0 first-week loss to the Saints.

An apparent 22-yard touchdown pass to Michael Irvin with 1:56 to go was canceled by a hold penalty on Dave Widell.

“I could sit here and give you a dozen reasons why we didn’t, but the bottom line is we just didn’t perform,” Aikman said afterward.

After a 27-21 loss in Week 2 in Atlanta, Johnson said, “I left Miami because I did what I could do there. It was time for another challenge. Well, it turns out that’s a big, big challenge – maybe bigger than I thought. Aikman was 13-for-23 for 241 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT.

Aikman played 11 games and finished the season with 9 touchdowns against 18 INT. Four of the picks came in the regular season finale against the Packers, although two were desperate throws. The Cowboys finished 1-15.

“It has been a long and difficult season for everyone,” said Johnson. “The best thing about it is it’s behind us and the Cowboys will have better days in the future.”

He and Aikman and Jones have had two Super Days in the future together four and five years in the new regime largely because Johnson managed a Hall of Fame trade on October 12, 1989 for five players and three first picks. round and over with the Vikings, who coveted Herschel Walker.

Unfortunately for Long-Suffering Jets Fan, Douglas won’t get that kind of bonus for Denzel Mims.

Johnson, a Draft Day Boatswain’s Mate, drafted Emmitt Smith in 1990 and made a big change when he replaced Shula with Norv Turner in 1991. He and Aikman won Super Bowl XXVII and XXVIII together as HOF Coach and HOF Quarterback. It’s a leap of faith for Saleh and Wilson that no Jet fan can dare to do.

“I hope,” said Ira of Staten Island, “these Jets turn out to be half as good as the ’89 Cowboys.”

The Long-Suffering Jet Fan knows it well: 53 years after Broadway Joe, there are no guarantees.

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