The New York Jets thought that they fixed their quarterback situation heading into the 2023 season by acquiring star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. But that quickly changed when Rodgers got hurt in their season opener Monday, thrusting Wilson into the game where he looked shaky at best early on.
Rodgers went down with an apparent leg injury on the Jets’ first drive of the game after a sack from Bills pass rusher Leonard Floyd.
He was ruled out for the remainder of the game, so the Jets needed Wilson to step up to win a big division game against the Bills.
Unfortunately, early on in the game Wilson was not sharp whatsoever. His worst play came in the second quarter when he threw it right at Bills linebacker Matt Milano for an interception.
Brutal interception from Zach Wilson, and then a Jets fan shown flipping the bird on the ESPN MNF broadcast.
"Just a terrible read by Zach Wilson."- Troy Aikman pic.twitter.com/UIpv36LXhS
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2023
ESPN Monday Night Football broadcaster Troy Aikman had a particularly harsh assessment of the interception on-air while he and Joe Buck looked at the replay.
“Just a terrible read from Zach Wilson,” said Aikman.
It looked like Wilson was intending to throw to Allen Lazard further down the field. But he clearly never even saw Milano, who didn’t even need to move to make the interception.
Fans took notice of the rough pass and largely agreed with Aikman’s assessment of the play.
Jets fans getting to watch Zach Wilson again pic.twitter.com/diafRhN0Y0
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) September 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/TSV__1/status/1701391967727587436
Brutal interception by Zach Wilson
Not sure what he was thinking. pic.twitter.com/oMa2lQU4mv
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) September 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/swagman95/status/1701404717849427975
When you chose seeing Aaron Rodgers opening night over a week in cabo and get Zach Wilson Interceptions pic.twitter.com/vMqZ6mXJYR
— John (@iam_johnw) September 12, 2023
Rodgers has been very complimentary of Wilson since joining the Jets, even saying that he believes Wilson will be the one to replace him as the Jets starter once he retires.
However, the play on the field thus far doesn’t show much improvement from the last time we saw him. And he will need to be far better for the Jets if they are going to be competitive while Rodgers is sidelined.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter, Photo Credit: ESPN]