Zach Wilson’s long scramble lone highlight in Jets’ preseason loss to Buccaneers

Zach Wilson didn’t make any spectacular throws on Saturday evening, however he did have a highlight-reel run.

The Jets quarterback scampered for a 35-yard acquire within the second quarter, escaping a close to sack by Patrick O’Connor after which juking J.J. Russell and Anthony Nelson earlier than working up the sideline for the lengthy acquire in a 13-6 loss to the Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium.

It’s debateable whether or not it was clever for Wilson to attempt to decide up the additional yards by reducing again in and reducing his shoulder.

A yr in the past, he suffered a knee damage on a preseason scramble in opposition to the Eagles and missed the primary three video games of the season.

This may occasionally have been Wilson’s final begin for a protracted whereas. Jets head coach Robert Saleh has left the door open for Aaron Rodgers to begin the preseason finale with the Giants subsequent Saturday.

Wilson certainly would nonetheless play in that recreation, however he’ll come off the bench in his new function as Rodgers’ backup. Wilson, who has began the primary three preseason video games, performed the primary half final evening after which exited at halftime.

Wilson had no spotlight throws on this recreation.

He additionally had no main errors.

He did have one close to interception, however a Tampa Bay defender couldn’t reel it in.

Wilson went 9-for-13 passing for 70 yards.

His passer score was 82.2 and he threw principally quick passes, averaging 3.6 air yards per try.

His longest go was a 26-yard acquire by rookie Jason Brownlee.

It has been a principally constructive preseason for Wilson, who misplaced his standing because the face of the franchise and quarterback of the longer term with a horrible 2022 season.

Wilson’s struggles led the Jets to hunt a brand new quarterback this offseason, they usually traded for Rodgers in April.

The Jets have been supportive of Wilson and have stated they need him to regain his confidence and hope he has a future with the group.

That every one could also be true, however additionally they shall be hoping Wilson received’t jhave to play in any respect within the common season this yr.

The Jets are banking on Rodgers main them to the playoffs and presumably the Tremendous Bowl.

Whereas Wilson has had some respectable moments in coaching camp, he nonetheless can’t be anticipated to steer the Jets in regular-season video games.

On the primary sequence in opposition to the Buccaneers, Wilson had a second-down throw that went behind Allen Lazard after which scrambled for six yards on third-and-10, forcing the Jets to punt.

Wilson had some essential third-down passes for first downs on the Jets’ subsequent sequence. He hit Brownlee for 8 yards after which went to Lazard for a 16-yard acquire.

The Jets had a pleasant drive going, however a holding penalty on Tyler Conklin on the Tampa Bay 14 sucked the momentum from the drive.

Wilson ended up throwing to Brownlee for a 5-yard acquire on third-and-14 and Greg Zuerlein made a 31-yard objective to offer the Jets a 3-0 lead firstly of the second quarter.

Tampa Bay tied the sport at 3-3 after Jets working again Zonovan Knight fumbled the ball and the Buccaneers recovered to arrange a Rodrigo Blankenship area objective. With the acquisition of Dalvin Prepare dinner this week, Knight is squarely on the roster bubble and he didn’t assist himself with the fumble and a dropped go.

The Jets put collectively one other field-goal drive within the second quarter behind a 26-yard go from Wilson to Brownlee after which Wilson’s 35-yard run. Zuerlein ended up making a 38-yard area objective for a 6-3 Jets lead.

The Buccaneers then hit the Jets’ protection with two large performs on a scoring drive earlier than halftime.

First, the Jets gave up a 27-yard run to Sean Tucker on a fourth-and-1 play.

Quarterback Kyle Trask adopted that up with a fairly 33-yard landing go to rookie Trey Palmer, who beat cornerback Derrick Langford on the play.

Trask is in a battle with Baker Mayfield for the Buccaneers’ beginning quarterback job. This was Trask’s preseason recreation to begin and his landing go gave the Buccaneers a 10-6 lead at halftime.