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A16 SPORTS
Thursday 24 November 2022

Jets bench Zach Wilson, Mike White to

start vs. Bears

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr. and replace him with Mike nail in his coffin.”
AP Pro Football Writer White as the starting quar- Joe Flacco will serve as
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) terback Sunday against White’s backup, and Wil-
— Zach Wilson has gone the Chicago Bears. son will not be active
from being the future of the “Zach’s career here is not against the Bears.
New York Jets franchise to over,” Saleh said, adding “We haven’t wavered in
an underachieving bench- that the plan is to have the our belief that he’s going
warmer. second-year quarterback to be the future of this fran-
New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (2) is sacked by New Coach Robert Saleh an- “reset” with the hope Wil- chise,” Saleh said.
England Patriots defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (91) and
linebacker Josh Uche (55) during the second half of an NFL nounced the decision son plays again this sea- Saleh didn’t commit Mon-
football game, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, in Foxborough, Mass. Wednesday to sit Wilson son. “This is not putting a day to having Wilson un-
Associated Press der center this week after
the second-year quar-
terback’s dismal perfor-
mance in the Jets’ 10-3 loss
to the Patriots in New Eng-
land. The No. 2 overall pick
in the draft last year was 9
of 22 for a measly 77 yards
with several wayward
throws. The Jets managed
just 2 total yards on seven
possessions in the second
half.
Saleh said he’ll evaluate
the quarterback position
on a day-to-day basis, and
added the entire offense
must be better.
“His decision-making has
been fine, his practice
habits and all that stuff
have been fine,” Saleh
said of Wilson. “But there
are some basic fundamen-
tal things that have gotten
really out of whack for him.
This is just an opportunity
for him to sit back, focus on
those things, find a way to
reconnect with all the dif-
ferent things we fell in love
with during the draft pro-
cess.
“And it’s something I feel
he’s going to be able to
do.”Wilson has taken a lot
of criticism this week not
only for his play on the
field, but how he handled
his postgame news con-
ference. When asked if
he thought he and the of-
fense let down the defense
which sacked Mac Jones
six times Wilson replied
curtly: “No. No.”
It appeared to be a lack of
accountability and rubbed
some inside the Jets’ lock-
er room the wrong way.
Rookie wide receiver Gar-
rett Wilson vented after
the game, without using
names, saying the offense
had a “sorry” performance
and “hopefully, this is a
wakeup for some people
in the facility.”q