The New York Jets have gotten better quarterback play with their starting quarterback injured, than when he was healthy. No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson has largely struggled throughout this season, while backup Mike White has performed admirably in his absence.
Wilson, for his part, is thinking of taking some cues from White whenever he can get back into the lineup.
“I would say my style of play needs to get more like that,” Wilson said of White, per the team’s official website. “It was the same thing in college. Maybe I forced things a little bit too much my freshman, sophomore years. But I found that balance my junior year, I found what risks were worth it and I was still able to have those big explosive plays, but I took care of the ball.”
Wilson has thrown nine interceptions in five-plus games this season, throwing a pick on a sky-high 5.0 percent of his pass attempts. For what it’s worth, White has thrown an interception on 4.5 percent of his passes, but he’s done a better job of getting the ball into the hands of New York’s playmakers so they can do work after the catch. As Wilson noted, he’s been trying too often to make the big, explosive play on his own.
However, Wilson is not concerned about losing his job to his backup.
“No, definitely not, and the reason is I’ve only played five games. I just got here,” Wilson said. “I’m supposed to be a senior in college right now, you know. You’ve got to understand it’s going to be hard and I’m not making any excuses but that’s where growth comes. I look back at my college career, and the year before I got there we were 4-9. We went 7-6 twice and then we had an 11-1 season. That’s how football goes. You have to go through adversity to get where you want to go. I definitely didn’t come here thinking this is going to be the greatest thing ever and we’re going to go undefeated.”
While he’s not worried about job security, Wilson does hope that White continues to look good in his relief role. After all, that would only help the team.
“I really do hope Mike does well and I hope the team wins,” the rookie said. “And it’s just because of the business of it all and the way that Mike treated me when he was the backup. He deserves to do well — he’s been working his butt off. The whole situation, it’s been a lot smoother than you would think it would be, right? And so I think it’s only going to be beneficial for me in the long run.”
