The Jets’ season is all but kaput after Thursday’s 19-3 loss to the Jaguars. So too is Zach Wilson’s career in town. And Mike Francesa is pulling no punches.
“Wilson has sunk the entire team,” the WFAN legend said on his BetRivers podcast. “He has not a lick of confidence or any idea what to do at the position right now. Nothing. He is not equipped to play the position right now. He has completely been shattered by this experience. It’s obvious. He should not have been the quarterback tonight. He should not have been the quarterback last week. And he was.”
Wilson went 9-of-18 for 92 yards and an interception as the Jets were effectively eliminated from realistic contention for an AFC wild card spot. He was booed mercilessly before head coach Robert Saleh bounced him for preseason hero Chris Streveler, who was elevated from the practice squad prior to kickoff. Although Saleh insisted it was not a benching while continuing to express faith in Wilson.
“Take what Saleh said after the game tonight and throw it away,” Francesa said. “Because all it was there to do was not just completely destroy what’s left of Wilson. He could have done that tonight, everyone wanted him to do that tonight, and he didn’t want to do it. He told you that he was improved in his play? Give me a break. What are you talking about? He couldn’t get a first down.”
Francesa conceded the Jets’ offense has not been the same since running back Breece Hall was injured. And that quarterback Mike White could have made plays to win at the Vikings a few weeks ago — a result that may have changed the team’s trajectory. But the bottom line, he said, is the Jets squandered their elite defense and allowed Wilson to wreck everything late.
“The Jets have now taken this season, which had so much promise … they have destroyed this season now,” Francesa said. “They took this season, which five or six weeks ago was so promising, and they drove it 80 mph into the wall. They all got in the bus, they put Zach behind the wheel and they all drove this right into the wall this season.”
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James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com
