The Jets saw their four-game winning streak come to an end against the Patriots last Sunday and three interceptions by quarterback Zach Wilson played a big role in the loss.
Wilson had not thrown a pick in the previous three games, but his run of clean play ended in a flurry of ill-advised throws while under pressure from the New England defense. On Thursday, Wilson spoke to reporters and said that he “can’t be forcing the ball like that” as he tries to find the right balance between risk and living to fight another day.
“The difficulty is being aggressively smart,” Wilson said, via Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post. “I had some plays in that last game that just weren’t smart and I’ve got to take those out. Sometimes, interceptions are going to happen when the defense makes a good play, and you can live with those ones. But I’ve got to be better on some of the other ones. The mindset is you’ve got to be aggressive. I feel like we’ve done that, but it’s how can we clean up some of the mistakes?”
That question is one the Jets have been asking since Wilson joined the team as the second overall pick last year and they’ll need Wilson to provide the right answers during the second half of the season if their 5-3 start is going to lead to them staying in playoff contention down the stretch.