This week, Jets legend and Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath was critical of Jets quarterback Zach Wilson.
Namath was critical of Wilson’s performance in the team’s 15-10 loss to the Patriots last Sunday. The third-year quarterback completed 18/36 passes for 157 yards, and New York’s offense struggled in that game.
“I wouldn’t keep him,” Namath said on The Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio.”I’ve seen enough of Zach Wilson.”
On Thursday, Wilson, who said he met Namath during his rookie season, discussed the Hall of Famer’s criticism.
“He’s passionate,” Wilson said. “He’s obviously one of the greats, so as an offense, we have to do everything we can to try to prove him wrong. Keep doing what we can and improve. I think the guys are feeling very optimistic. We all believe in each other; we’re all right there. So, excited for this week.
According to the 24-year-old, he and his teammates are working to get better.
“Obviously, Joe is an unbelievable player, but this locker room is very tightknit,” Wilson said. “We’re working to get better. I’m working to get better. I know I need to improve and I promise I’m doing everything that I can to keep trying to get better. The focus is just to rely on each other in this locker room, lean on each other because that’s all that we got at the end of the day and we’re going to do everything we can to keep improving.”
For some, criticism motivates them to be better. However for Wilson, that’s not the case; he ignores it.
“I don’t know if I would say it fuels me because I like to ignore it,” Wilson said of the criticism. “I get the passion and the frustration absolutely, but my job as a quarterback is to focus on how I can get better, how I can help this offense score, how I can help us win games. It needs to improve, it needs to get better, but that starts in the film room with the coaches checking out those plays and then just doing my job from there. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily my focus point of where the fuel comes from.”
Wilson has and probably will continue to struggle. He’s near the bottom in all statistical categories among starting quarterbacks in the NFL(467 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions, 52% completion percentage). The challenging part for Jets fans is they believed that this team was built to win now, which it was, and they also think Wilson is holding this team back, which he probably is.
However, after signing veteran quarterback Trevor Siemian this week and not any of the other quarterbacks on the market, including Carson Wentz; it appears New York is still all in on Wilson for the 2023 season.
The Jets are currently 1-2 and host the world-champion Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, so if this offense does not play better, New York could be 1-3 after four weeks; if that happens, Wilson will get most of the blame.
