After looking at the game tape of Zach Wilson’s 300-yard, two-touchdown performance in the Jets’ 30-6 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, Robert Saleh praised his quarterback for being “extremely decisive” in his decision-making.
“He played fast, there were a lot of ‘oh crap’ moments where I felt like he stayed within the moment and made things work,” the head coach said Monday. “He made a lot of things happen on his own, off-schedule, he was really, really good.
“I said it after the game, and just after watching the tape and just looking at it in more detail, it was the best game he played, in my opinion.”
It was just 21 days ago that the third-year quarterback was benched for the third time in his career and it appeared that Wilson’s time in New York was done. When asked Monday if the former No. 2 overall pick could still play his way back into the Jets’ plans for 2024, Saleh was less than decisive.
“Well anything can happen, especially in this sport,” he said. “It’s like a New York minute, right? It swings from one pendulum to the next.”
The head coach added that Wilson – who will be the Jets’ starter for the final four games of the season barring injury – “just needs to focus on week-to-week, just putting his best foot forward and just being the best version of him he can be. Like I said, [Sunday] was awesome.”
He added: “To answer your question, we just gotta take it one day at a time.”
A report last Friday from the Salt Lake City-based newspaper, the Deseret News, said the Jets told Wilson he would be traded after the offseason, with Saleh and Wilson agreeing “to a mutual parting” of the ways after the QB’s November benching.
“My conversations with him are to do everything he can to get ready to play a football game,” Saleh said when asked about the validity of that report from Wilson’s home state. “As far as all that other stuff is concerned, those are things I’ll leave for [Jets general manager Joe Douglas].”
On Aaron Rodgers‘ Status
Twelve days of the 21-day window for the Jets to activate Rodgers off of injured reserve have gone and the 40-year-old quarterback’s return to the field remains up in the air.
Saleh said he “didn’t have any knowledge on” a TMZ report from earlier Monday that Rodgers would be medically cleared for the Dec. 24 game against the Washington Commanders.
“If that’s something that he’s had with his personal doctor, out in LA, I’m not privy to that yet,” he added.
The head coach said he “had no idea” if it is conceivable that the two-time MVP could be ready to play by Christmas Eve, a date that he had circled as a potential return.
“We are approaching it as if he’s in rehab and when the doctor gives us his doctor’s note to clear him for the next stage that’s when we’ll have those discussions,” Saleh said. “But right now, the only thing we’re focusing on are the guys that we gotta prepare to play on Sunday.”
On the field, Saleh said Rodgers is “doing the drills, routes on air, he does the flight school” and “doing what a backup quarterback would do.”
