Zach Wilson did not make any spectacular throws on Saturday night, but he did have a highlight-reel run.
The Jets quarterback scampered for a 35-yard gain in the second quarter, escaping a near sack by Patrick O’Connor and then juking J.J. Russell and Anthony Nelson before running up the sideline for the long gain in a 13-6 loss to the Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium.
It’s debateable whether it was wise for Wilson to try to pick up the extra yards by cutting back in and lowering his shoulder.
A year ago, he suffered a knee injury on a preseason scramble against the Eagles and missed the first three games of the season.
This may have been Wilson’s last start for a long while. Jets head coach Robert Saleh has left the door open for Aaron Rodgers to start the preseason finale with the Giants next Saturday.
Wilson surely would still play in that game, but he will come off the bench in his new role as Rodgers’ backup. Wilson, who has started the first three preseason games, played the first half last night and then exited at halftime.
Wilson had no highlight throws in this game.
He also had no major mistakes.
He did have one near interception, but a Tampa Bay defender could not reel it in.
Wilson went 9-for-13 passing for 70 yards.
His passer rating was 82.2 and he threw mostly short passes, averaging 3.6 air yards per attempt.
His longest pass was a 26-yard gain by rookie Jason Brownlee.
It has been a mostly positive preseason for Wilson, who lost his status as the face of the franchise and quarterback of the future with a terrible 2022 season.
Wilson’s struggles led the Jets to seek a new quarterback this offseason, and they traded for Rodgers in April.
The Jets have been supportive of Wilson and have said they want him to regain his confidence and hope he has a future with the team.
That all may be true, but they also will be hoping Wilson won’t jhave to play at all in the regular season this year.
The Jets are banking on Rodgers leading them to the playoffs and possibly the Super Bowl.
While Wilson has had some decent moments in training camp, he still cannot be expected to lead the Jets in regular-season games.
On the first series against the Buccaneers, Wilson had a second-down throw that went behind Allen Lazard and then scrambled for 6 yards on third-and-10, forcing the Jets to punt.
Wilson had some crucial third-down passes for first downs on the Jets’ next series. He hit Brownlee for 8 yards and then went to Lazard for a 16-yard gain.
The Jets had a nice drive going, but a holding penalty on Tyler Conklin at the Tampa Bay 14 sucked the momentum from the drive.
Wilson ended up throwing to Brownlee for a 5-yard gain on third-and-14 and Greg Zuerlein made a 31-yard goal to give the Jets a 3-0 lead at the start of the second quarter.
Tampa Bay tied the game at 3-3 after Jets running back Zonovan Knight fumbled the ball and the Buccaneers recovered to set up a Rodrigo Blankenship field goal. With the acquisition of Dalvin Cook this week, Knight is squarely on the roster bubble and he did not help himself with the fumble and a dropped pass.
The Jets put together another field-goal drive in the second quarter behind a 26-yard pass from Wilson to Brownlee and then Wilson’s 35-yard run. Zuerlein ended up making a 38-yard field goal for a 6-3 Jets lead.
The Buccaneers then hit the Jets’ defense with two big plays on a scoring drive before halftime.
First, the Jets gave up a 27-yard run to Sean Tucker on a fourth-and-1 play.
Quarterback Kyle Trask followed that up with a pretty 33-yard touchdown pass to rookie Trey Palmer, who beat cornerback Derrick Langford on the play.
Trask is in a battle with Baker Mayfield for the Buccaneers’ starting quarterback job. This was Trask’s preseason game to start and his touchdown pass gave the Buccaneers a 10-6 lead at halftime.
