Zach Wilson needs to show Jets he can be more than one-hit wonder

DENVER — He didn’t win the game, but he was the better quarterback last time, and the other quarterback was Patrick Mahomes.

So now, his confidence Rocky Mountain High, the ask of Zach Wilson is to be the better quarterback when he duels Russell Wilson and Sean Payton’s Broncos in Sunday’s Hackett Bowl.

Be the better Wilson.

It shouldn’t be asking too much. Because Zach Wilson doesn’t have to play against the Jets defense. Russell Wilson does.

Zach Wilson gets to play against a disoriented Broncos defense (150 points, 1,846 total yards) that was shredded last week by Justin Fields and had that 70-burger dished to them by Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins the week before.

At a pivotal juncture — when 2-3 would keep hope alive with winnable games against the Giants, Chargers and Raiders following the Eagles next week— this is not the time for Zach Wilson to be any one-hit wonder.

There was that fourth-quarter comeback win in Pittsburgh last October, when Zach Wilson made his 2022 debut and inspired hope that he had grown up and maybe arrived.

He had not and did not.

It was not a new beginning, and a beginning of the end was on its way:

Benched after the Patriots game in Foxborough.

Benched during the Jaguars game at home.

Benched for Rodgers, the missing piece Woody Johnson craved.

Maybe this time, after all the times he has been knocked down, Zach Wilson can get back up and stay back up.

He smiles more these days, doesn’t act as if his weekly media sessions are akin to root canal. He seems to have learned the obligations of the franchise quarterback.

It is set up on a tee for him.

The Broncos are vulnerable against the run — all eyes are on you Breece Hall — not to mention the pass.

And with a synergy growing between the Jets quarterback and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, there should be no hesitation for Zach Wilson to play uninhibited, to play unshackled, to play to win, just as he played against Mahomes and the Chiefs.

It would be a terrific idea for him to target Garrett Wilson 14 times again … unless Hall remembers how to be Breece the Beast in the stadium where he tore his ACL last Oct. 23.

“I think you can see Breece is just champing at the bit, he’s ready to roll, he wants to be given the green light,” center Connor McGovern said. “Every week he’s just been more hungry after every game, so I think he’s ready to rock.”

Hackett and Rodgers can relate to how Joe Theismann once described his rapport in Washington with coordinator Joe Walton:

“We’re really two minds in one body.”

If quarterback and coordinator can take such a giant leap together, “Zachett” ought to have a field day.

“He has the arm talent, he has the wherewithal to be a great quarterback,” McGovern said. “As an O-line, you want to keep him clean and keep that confidence high, ’cause when you do, he can do some special stuff.”

That special stuff finally translated from the practice field to gameday. Joe Namath wasn’t necessarily eating his words following Zach Wilson’s breakout performance, but he might have been nibbling on them in private.

“As an O-lineman, I want to run the ball as much as possible, obviously,” McGovern said, “but when [No.] 2’s slinging the rock like he was last game, it’s hard to deny him that.”

Start fast for a change. Play fast. Don’t leave Mile High unless you leave it 2-3.

“If we can start as strong as we finish — and I know we will, and we’ll get that part figured out,” McGovern said, “we’ll be a pretty dangerous team.”

For too long, Zach Wilson prevented the Jets from being a pretty dangerous team. Let’s see if he can be the better Wilson first before the Jets can consider themselves a pretty dangerous team.