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Pittsburgh – Zach Wilson was like one of those great home run hitters today.
He finished the game with a 50 percent completion percentage, and a 59 QB rating, but hit some home runs along the way to help the Jets win.
In other words, home runs and strikeouts, like Adam Dunn.
Not looking to take anything away from the Jets’ win, and what he did to help them do it, but he’s got to become more consistent with his accuracy, and he knows it.
Will give you a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
On the drive where the Jets made it 20-17 in the fourth, Wilson completes a nice crossing route to Garrett Wilson for a gain of 35, and then on the next play, throws behind Tyler Conklin on a simple, shallow crossing route. On the same drive, he missed bad on a pass short right to a wide-open Breece Hall, but then two plays later he hit Corey Davis for a four-yard touchdown.
Once again, he did a nice job of doing enough to help the Jet win this game, but as we’ve written many times, it’s hard to sustain drives when you complete 50 percent of your passes because every other pass is hitting the ground.
So great win for the Jets and Zach Wilson, but a lot to work on moving forward . . .
Not making any excuses for the Steelers or taking anything away from the Jets’ win, but the Steelers were down two starting defensive backs in the second half. Starting left cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon was inactive, and then they lost starting strong safety, Terrell Edmunds, in the second quarter.
First half – Zach Wilson 6-16 for 81 yards. Second half 12-20 for 171 . . .
Another amazing part of this unlikely win for the Jets today is they really struggled against the run and running the ball. Often it’s hard to win with that combination.
The Steelers ran 31 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns. The Jets ran 29 times for 98 yards, and aside from a 16-yard run by Breece Hall in the second quarter, and a seven-yard run late, most runs were stopped around the line.
Obviously the Jets’ patchwork offensive line today made it hard to run. The Steelers’ interior players, like Cam Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi and DeMarvin Leal, were creating a lot of havoc inside blowing up a lot of runs. Maybe having a new right guard today, Nate Herbig, led to some chemistry issues. Connor McGovern had a little bit of a rough one today.
As for the Jets’ run defense, setting the edge continues to be a problem.
But the bottom line Jets are 2-2. Maybe stats are overrated . . .
Today we saw why the Jets brought back safety Lamarcus Joyner in free agency this off-season. Remember they signed him in 2021, but he suffered a season-ending arm injury in the opener at Carolina. 31 years old, coming off an injury, not much of a history with the team, some teams might not have gone down that road, but Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh showed good vision re-signing the guy.
The Jets need a savvy, veteran centerfielder to calm things down in the secondary, which had a rough season last year.
Joyner did just that today, with 2 interceptions and 4 PDs. Those are remarkable numbers for a safety.
People forget how talented this guy is. Remember, he was given the franchise tag by the Los Angeles Rams, and then signed a big money deal with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders. Those teams gave him big bucks for a reason. He’s a smart, instinctive ballhawk.
And you saw that in Pittsburgh today . . .
I’m not sure a lot of people realize how hard it is for offensive linemen to switch sides going right to left or left to right. You have to reverse your footwork and hand placement. It’s really hard.
So for Alijah Vera-Tucker to go from left guard last year, to right guard in the first three games this year, and then go to left tackle today, it’s a remarkable accomplishment.
What a smart decision by Saleh and John Benton to do this. Remember, AVT played left tackle his last year at USC. For Zach Wilson to come back today, and play with a fourth-string left tackle (with George Fant, Duane Brown and Mekhi Becton all out), that could have been problematic.
So why not plug in a guy who played left tackle on a high level in a Power Five Conference?
Good decision.
October 2, 2022
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