Here Lies Jets Fans’ Hopes and Dreams

Last Sunday, football fans everywhere felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of Jets fans cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Something inconceivable happened. Yes, in the first of many vicissitudes the Jets can expect to encounter in the grueling 18 week NFL season, kicker Greg Zuerlein strained his groin during practice on Thursday.

Oh, and Aaron Rodgers tore his achilles on 9/11.

The fateful rupture occurred during his fourth snap as a Jet in an equal parts demoralizing and exhilarating 16-22 overtime victory against the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, with Rodgers’ injury marooning the team in essentially the same pitiable position they were in last season with quarterback Zach Wilson. Wilson, who was benched last year after his lack of confidence and mechanics combined for one of the most diabolical sophomore quarterback seasons in recent memory, stepped under center in place of Rodgers on Monday night.

If the NFL were a video game, the Jets just died, and their last check point was Week 1 of the 2022 season.

They are now confronted with a 1-0 Dallas Cowboys team on the road who, in Week 1, shutout the Jets’ MetLife roommates, the New York Giants, 40-0. When asked if the team plans to sign or trade for a replacement quarterback going into Week 2, Head Coach Robert Saleh affirmed his confidence in Wilson, but didn’t rule out any possibilities.

“It doesn’t have to be this week,” Saleh explained about the Jets landing a new quarterback “It’s not Madden in the sense that we can just plug and play anybody. There’s a lot of meetings, a lot of practices, a lot of nuance, a lot of understanding of why things are the way they are. . .So right now, all of our attention is on Zach.”

As for replacing Zuerlein, the Jets signed kicker Austin Seibert to the practice squad and will elevate him to the active roster before Sunday’s game.

Heading into Dallas with Wilson at quarterback, the Jets are expected to make a rock fight out of the game; they will lean on Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s unflappable defense and likely implement an offensive game plan so conservative former Jets QB Brett Favre would vote for it on a Mississippi ballot.

Key to this strategy will be taking the ball out of Zach Wilson’s hands and putting it in those of second year running back Breece Hall. Hall, who tore his ACL in Week 7 of last season, logged 127 yards in his return against the Bills. With that performance, he is now averaging 7.53 yards per carry, the most in any NFL player’s first eight games in NFL history. It’s safe to say he never lost his confidence.

“Once I got on the field, I was like, ‘I’m still that dude,” Hall said. “Anytime I touch the ball, I can do whatever I want with it. I always had that mentality, but I was just happy the coaches stuck with me.”

Hall, however, will be running up against what might be the best defensive rush he’ll see outside of practice all season in the form of a Cowboys defense that sacked Giants quarterback Daniel Jones 7 times in Week 1. Dallas’ trouncing of the Giants’ pass block was so severe Cowboys Linebacker Micah Parsons felt obligated during a podcast appearance to censure the Giants coaching staff for not taking Jones out of harm’s way.

”I don’t think Daniel Jones should’ve been in that game in the fourth quarter,” said Parson. “They should’ve protected him.”

Understanding the Jets will be incredibly reluctant to have Wilson throw the ball, Parsons and company may have a much easier time neutralizing Hall and the Jets’ run game than they otherwise would have with Rodgers at quarterback who the Cowboys, at the very least, would have had to respect as an offensive threat.

The time, however, for what-ifs and if-onlys has passed. Rodgers’ achilles is torn, his playing season is over, and the Jets still face the Cowboys this Sunday at 4:25 p.m. E.T, leaving them with a simple choice, really: Get busy living with Zach Wilson, or get busy dying with Zach Wilson.