Despite snapping a two-game touchdown drought with a score late in the second quarter, Zach Wilson and the Jets offense sputtered again in a 32-6 loss to the Bills Sunday. The third-year signal caller was replaced by Tim Boyle late in the third quarter.
"When it's consecutive weeks of just doing nothing on offense, we can sit here and say last week we moved the ball, but we're not scoring," Wilson said. "Essentially it comes down, you got to score points. So, when things aren't getting done, changes got to be made, and I understand that."
In just shy of three quarters of action, Wilson completed 7-of-15 pass attempts for 81 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
The Bills defense jumped on Wilson early with 2 sacks in the first quarter and held the offense to 7 net yards in the opening frame. With 5:25 left in the second quarter, Wilson was picked off by CB Rasual Douglas on a throw intended for Garrett Wilson.
"It was a timing throw," Z. Wilson said about the interception. "I thought the corner did a good job. Unfortunately, I think Garrett slipped a little bit at the top of it, but it's one of those I'm trying to just trust it and let it rip."
After the two-minute warning in the second quarter, the Jets found a small spark provided by the special teams. On fourth-and-2, P Thomas Morstead completed a pass to CB Brandin Echols for 18-yards.
Following the conversion, Wilson was sharp. He completed consecutive passes to RB Breece Hall for 15 and 11 yards and the drive ended on a screen pass to Hall for a 9-yard touchdown. The score cut the lead to 16-6 after Wilson was sacked on the two-point attempt. The Bills outgained the Jets 187-to-87 in the first half and Green & White went into the break down 10.
"Felt like one of those games where everything felt really hard," Wilson said. "I thought the coaches had a good game plan. I just got to give those guys credit. I thought they did a good job as well. Everyone was battling, but it felt off today."
To start the second half, the Bills scored touchdowns on their first two possessions and built a 29-6 lead as the Jets picked up one first down on their first own two possessions. And with 2:17 left in the third quarter, Boyle came in for Wilson.
HC Robert Saleh elected to go to the fourth-veteran in hopes he could ignite the offense that struggled as a whole.
"It was 29-6 and we wanted to see if we could get something going on the offensive side of the ball," Saleh said. "Like I told Zach on the sideline, it's not just him. It's easy to point the finger at the quarterback. But you see missed protections, you got to drop balls, you got to miss routes. Obviously, he's got to get better. There are things that he could have done a lot better, but it's everyone right now."
The Jets have a short week ahead of the first Black Friday game against the AFC East leading Dolphins (7-3) in Week 12. Saleh did not say who would start at QB but added that they plan to make decision early in next week.
"Everything's accelerated," Saleh said. "You don't have Monday and Tuesday to dissect and breathe for a second, but we'll be pretty quick with it."
Wilson said: "I don't know what I expect. We are going to watch the film. All I can focus on is how could I have been better tonight. I can think of some throws I wanted to have back, but just not good enough all the way around."
