Jets receiver Garrett Wilson had some things to say on Tuesday about the team’s offense. He then had some things to say about what he’d said.
The initial quote, from a response to a question posed by Bart Scott on 98.7 ESPN New York, was posted by Rich Cimini of ESPN.com.
“I don’t think we do a lot of different stuff to be honest,” Wilson said of the team’s offense. “When I watch football on Sundays and I see a lot of teams who mix it up and stuff like that. I don’t feel like we do that. I think we know our identity. It’s just about going out and executing it or figuring out if it’s going to work. I don’t think we’re trying a lot of different things.
“I know, personally, my route tree hasn’t been what it has been the last two years as far as the stuff I’ve been running. It’s just about figuring out if it’s the right identity and whether it’s going to win games.”
Wilson responded to Cimini’s post about Wilson’s “interesting comments” by saying, “I didn’t jus[t] ‘comment’ this, it was my answer to this strung out question.”
Wilson added the clip. The question was a bit long and meandering. The context was whether the Jets are trying to find an offensive identity by doing different things. That’s the question Wilson was answering.
Still, he said what he said. And it’s fair to wonder whether Wilson is feeling a little frustrated with the offense, given that he has 20 catches in four games, for 191 yards and a touchdown.
He’s clearly the most potent and capable weapon in the passing game. But Allen Lazard, who ultimately was a healthy scratch last year without Rodgers around, has gotten plenty of attention through four games. Even though Wilson is the far better option.
During the Week 1 ManningCast, Bill Belichick’s high-level, Professor of Football analysis of the New York offense consisted of saying, more than once, just throw it to Garrett Wilson.
Wilson knows it. We all know it. And if the Jets were 3-1 or 4-0, it wouldn’t be an issue. But they’re 2-2, showing the signs of a team that will be up and down all year, winning and losing and losing and winning and ultimately playing the “win the last two and get some help” game in order to secure a spot in the wild-card round.
That can change, obviously. If Rodgers consistently plays like he did in Week 3 against the Patriots, the Jets will be fine. If he consistently plays like he did on Sunday against the Broncos, they won’t be fine.
If he does some of both, they might be fine. And they might not be fine.
Up next, we’ll see how Rodgers performs in the face of the aggressive and unpredictable blitz packages from the Vikings in a stand-alone, Sunday morning game from London. Either they’ll fly home at 3-2 after toppling one of the last two unbeaten teams and feeling pretty good about themselves or they’ll be 2-3 and still searching for answers as they prepare for a Monday night visit from the Bills, followed by a Sunday night trip to Pittsburgh.
