The 2023 NFL season for the New York Jets has followed a similarly, frustrating path as the 2022 campaign did. After getting off to a 7-4 start last season, the Jets lost their final six games of the season to miss the playoffs and finish 7-10.
Looking to turn their fortunes around, New York made a blockbuster trade in the offseason, acquiring Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers. Unfortunately, their Super Bowl aspirations quickly went out the window when Rodgers was injured on his fourth offensive play of the season.
That forced Zach Wilson back into the lineup and the results have been as bad as you would expect. Wilson has proven time and time again that he isn’t a starting-caliber player in the NFL, providing more evidence of that this season.
The Jets have a championship-caliber defense but for how good that unit is, the offense is lackluster. Wilson’s performance has been underwhelming, as he is torpedoing the team’s chances of making a playoff run.
In the process, he has made some NFL history. Against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 9 and Las Vegas Raiders in Week 10, Wilson threw for 263 yards in each game. New York lost both games in large part because of the offense’s inability to score.
Not only did he not throw a touchdown, the Jets didn’t score an offensive touchdown against the Chargers or Raiders. That makes Wilson the first player in NFL history to throw for 250+ yards in back-to-back games but not lead his team to a touchdown in either.
That certainly isn’t a record that Wilson or the Jets want to be a part of, but that level of ineptitude has become the norm since he was picked second overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. New York has no one to blame but themselves for how things have turned out.
General manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh sticking with Wilson as long as they have is organizational malpractice. The Minnesota Vikings are thriving after acquiring Joshua Dobbs at the trade deadline to keep their season alive after Kirk Cousins injured his Achilles in Week 8.
That could have easily been the Jets had they been aggressive in making a move after Week 1 when Rodgers was injured originally. They opted against that, having false hope in Wilson improving in Year 3. They are now facing the repercussions of that decision as their playoff drought is on pace to reach 13 years.
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