Zach Wilson: ‘My job as quarterback is I gotta step up’ after Aaron Rodgers’ injury

When Aaron Rodgers was unable to get up off the MetLife Stadium turf after just four plays of his tenure as the Jets’ starting quarterback, Zach Wilson was once again thrust into the spotlight.

“It’s one of those things that is so unfortunate, but in my position, you have to understand it happens. And you have to be ready and you have to be able to step up and play,” Wilson told SNY’s Jeane Coakley after Gang Green's 22-16 overtime win. “And my job is to close the gap. How close can I be to Aaron Rodgers? I'm going to keep working on that every single week.”

On Rodgers, Wilson said he “has so much love” for the veteran quarterback who is feared to have been lost to a season-ending Achilles injury.

“My heart goes out to him, I have no idea what's happened, I got to see him at halftime for a second. I know he'll find a way to keep working to get back. It's tough. It hurts us as a team,” Wilson said in his postgame news conference. “But my job as quarterback is I gotta step up. I gotta be as efficient as I can in that offense.

“A lot of emotions, right? Like Week 1, opening day, trying to learn as much as I can from this guy, but I also gotta make sure I'm ready to go. Lotta emotions, you gotta be able to try and stay calm and go out there and try and perform the best you can.”

When told by a media member that head coach Robert Saleh indicated it would likely be him starting the rest of the way, Wilson said what he needs to do now is just “keep getting better.”

“Trust my feet, trust my coaches, trust the guys around me, rely on this defense that we have. And progressively rely on everything I feel like I’ve done in preseason and training camp as well. Just do my best to keep improving as a player,” he said.

Wilson finished the game completing 14-of-21 passes for just 140 yards with a touchdown and an interception, but thanks to a stellar performance from the Jets’ defense and a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown in overtime from Xavier Gipson, it was a winning performance.

“Each play you know it’s a big game and each play you just kinda gotta tell yourself rely on the training that I put in this entire year,” he said. “What everyone’s talked about between coach [Nathaniel Hackett] and [passing game coordinator Todd Downing] and then Aaron, of course. Trust the work that we’ve put in as a team and then rely on the guys around me because we have some very talented guys. So I think that was the focus for me, one play at a time.”

And trusting his teammates is what he did on his touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson, eschewing the run play that was called on 2nd-and-goal from the Bills’ three to throw the fade.

“You know G, that dude is pushing me all day to ‘throw the fade, throw the fade, throw the fade,’” the quarterback said. “And I want to. And we had the run play called and coach Hack goes ‘Let’s hand this one off.’ And I just look out there and I saw G and I was like, ‘I’m throwing this one up.’ You know he’s gonna go up there and make a play.

“It wasn’t the best throw. The [defensive back] was boxing him out, but that dude has unbelievable ball skills and he always finds a way to come down with it. He’s somebody I just gotta keep leaning onto.”

While the injury to Rodgers will likely, sadly, be the lasting impact of this game on the Jets’ 2023 season, the walk-off win with the punt return in overtime was a positive moment for the team and Wilson, once again the starting quarterback, to provide something to still possibly carry into the rest of the season.

“So unfortunate for Aaron at the beginning, but everyone held strong… the defense obviously getting four turnovers was huge. We gotta capitalize on those more as an offense,” Wilson told Coakley. ‘But then the finish like that with Xavier, a young dude who has so much talent, I’m so happy for him. Unbelievable team win.”

He added: “So much fun, these are the best wins."