The Jets' new era under center started with promise Saturday night.
Zach Wilson shined in his preseason debut, completing 6 of 9 passes for 63 yards and a passer rating of 86.8 in a 12-7 win over the Giants.
The stat line doesn't look like much, primarily because Wilson wasn't on the field for very long. But when he was out there, Wilson was sharp, delivering passes that weren't exactly layups to keep the Jets offense moving. A connection with new addition Corey Davis was his best throw of the night, with Wilson dropping to pass, planting at the opposite hash and firing a bullet to Davis along the sideline for a first down.
Later, Wilson connected with Keelan Cole for another chain-moving completion.
Wilson failed to find the end zone, but for an abbreviated first outing, it was encouraging to say the least.
"We have so much confidence in the young man," Jets coach Robert Saleh said after the win. "You want him to stack up as many good days as possible but there's still youth. He's still a rookie and there's still a lot of things that he's gonna learn from and there's still a lot of opportunities for him to grow.
"Even here, in this game, despite the fact that he looked comfortable and he did a nice job, there's still gonna be things that he can learn off of. It's never gonna end. The young man's potential is through the roof but it's gonna be a process"
It was just a preseason game, yes, but there was a pace to the Jets' offense that we haven't seen in some time. More importantly, there was decisive action taken by the quarterback.
"I thought it was good," Wilson said of his performance. "Of course, still things to clean up. It was a great experience. I really enjoyed having that game-like setting. The introduction to kind of like the NFL, the whole game, it's great for everybody, no matter how much football you've played, it was awesome to get out there."
The spotlight certainly wasn't too big for Wilson, who looked less like a rookie and more like the No. 2 overall pick with an arm capable of throwing the Jets to victory. Though he didn't throw a touchdown on Saturday night, he found some initial friendly territory in the rough terrain that is playing in New York.
As Saleh said, it's about stacking good days for Wilson at this point. Saturday was certainly a good day, even if it was brief.
