Jets’ Joe Douglas backs Zach Wilson despite struggles vs Patriots: ‘He’s our quarterback’

New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas backed second-year quarterback Zach Wilson on Tuesday after his weak performance in Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots raised questions over his ability to lead New York to what could be their first playoff appearance since 2010. 

During a press conference, Douglas was asked about concern over Wilson’s future after he had three turnovers and completed just 48.8% of his passes in his first 300-yard game.

Douglas did not hesitate to say that “Zach’s our quarterback” before pointing out the Jets are 4-1 with him throwing the ball this season. 

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“If you talked to Zach, I’m sure he’d tell you there’s a few throws he’d want back but we’re 4-1 with Zach as our quarterback,” he said. “In his first game back, he brought us back from a double-digit deficit in hostile territory in Pittsburgh.”

“I know I’m sure he’d say he wants a few of those throws back [against the Patriots] but he also had nine explosive passes – there’s a lot of good to take away from that game,” Douglas continued. “I know the focus was on the turnovers, but we love Zach, we love the way his approach is every week, we love his [competitiveness]. He’s our quarterback.”

Douglas’ comments follow those of head coach Robert Saleh, who on Monday reaffirmed the Jets’ confidence in Wilson’s ability to lead the team.

“I’ve got full confidence in Zach, we all do. It’s not like he hasn’t had bad games before, and he’s stepped up and followed it with good days. The way he preps and the way he practices and the questions he asks – we have faith that he’ll find ways to continue to get better.”

Saleh noted that encouraging Wilson to play “boring” football is an important part of his growth – seemingly pointing to the number of costly turnovers in Sunday’s game. 

“He’s a young man that wants to prove his worth and, to be honest with you, you can prove your worth by just executing and doing your job to the best of your ability, and we’ve got full faith in his ability to make off-scheduled throws.”

Saleh echoed that sentiment on Wednesday. 

“The balance is to understand that we have a pretty good team, you’re surrounded by really good players and that if we can just live to play another down, eventually we’ll get it to where we need to get to and our playmakers will make plays.

“He’s learning every day. He’s getting better every day. And, knowing him, he’s going to be relentless in that pursuit.” 

Earlier in the week, Saleh explained that his decision to upgrade Mike White to quarterback No.2 over veteran Joe Flacco was about getting White prepared to play if Wilson is injured. 

“Mike White is one of our young guys on this football team. We’ve seen Joe, we know Joe, we love Joe. And, hopefully Zach does not get hurt but in the event he does get hurt, Mike White is going to get the opportunity because we need to know what we have in Mike.”