When Sam Darnold faced the Patriots we all heard about how he saw ghosts. Bill Belichick hasn’t been kind to rookie quarterbacks. New Jets QB, Zach Wilson, spoke to the media on Wednesday and was asked about the Patriots.<\/p>\n
Your first go at the Patriots, obviously, thoughts kind of going in, just kind of your opinion and what you know of the rivalry, before the first matchup?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it\u2019s super cool. You think the New England Patriots your whole life and my whole life, how many Super Bowls they\u2019ve won, and how many I\u2019ve seen them in. Obviously, the team is a little bit different now without Tom (Brady) there. But Bill Belichick is still there and that dude is one of the best coaches around. The scheme and the way he gets those guys to play hard and the rules he gives them, it\u2019s tough, he does a good job. So, it\u2019s going to be a good challenge for us.<\/p>\n What about the Patriots scheme sticks out to you defensively?<\/strong><\/p>\n I would say they\u2019re very disciplined. They\u2019re able to just play man coverage and put guys on an island and they have a lot of trust in their players. The technique that they teach, the ability to just completely say, \u201cHey, you got a man for a man right here and you got to win.\u201d They have good players and they do a really good job of just doing a lot of different things. Normally teams, when they have a lot of different things, they start to screw up on things. You know it\u2019s a well-coached team when they do a lot of things and they also execute really well. So, that\u2019s where the challenging part comes in.<\/p>\n Belichick coached defenses are known for creating a lot of misery for rookie quarterbacks, there\u2019s a long record, stats that you probably don\u2019t need to hear, but what kind of challenge, do you relish that kind of challenge going against that?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, absolutely. I\u2019m excited for it. I think it\u2019s going to be a good challenge for me, tons of great learning, I\u2019m sure. And then also, these guys are a part of our division so, we\u2019re going to play them a lot this year and then the coming years of course. It\u2019s just getting used to this scheme, how we can beat some of the things they\u2019re going to throw at us. It\u2019s no secret what they\u2019re going to throw at us, now you got to try and stop it. That\u2019s the big question, we have, I think, a lot of good things we\u2019ve been working on this week.<\/p>\n When you were in college or watching film of other NCAA quarterbacks, was Mac Jones ever on the list?<\/strong><\/p>\n I mean no disrespect to Mac, but no. I think our games are just different, it\u2019s not that he\u2019s not a good player, he\u2019s a great player, obviously, what he\u2019s been doing is awesome. But our game is just different as far as what we\u2019re doing. I would definitely say Alabama though, we stole things from them as a team at BYU and we tried to copy them on a lot of stuff. I wouldn\u2019t even say necessarily in college I watched college quarterbacks, I watched more pro quarterbacks and saw the way that they played.<\/p>\n Do you know him at all, or have you crossed paths with Mac Jones?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, he\u2019s a cool dude. We ran into each other at the combine stuff, a little bit, and then some at the draft night and so, I was excited for him and his opportunity, super cool. That\u2019s the cool thing about being in this spot, it\u2019s not like me and him are really competing for a spot. I got to go to my team, and he got to go to his. So, all those quarterbacks in the draft, you really hope the best for them.<\/p>\n Given the pressure you faced in your first game and the amount of hits you took, a lot of people praised your resilience and toughness afterwards, but are you a little concerned to have to take that number of hits every week, that it\u2019ll be tough to stay healthy over the course of a long season?<\/strong><\/p>\n No, absolutely not. I don\u2019t worry about that, injuries happen, but I wouldn\u2019t necessarily say it\u2019s from that. Also just pressure wise too, I got to do a better job handling it. We\u2019re going to clean things up this week, but pressure is a thing that\u2019s team wide and I have to do a better job of making sure a team doesn\u2019t do that and I\u2019m not getting hit on my back all the time. It\u2019s a point of emphasis for us this week and we\u2019re going to keep working on it.<\/p>\n You go from basically you haven\u2019t been hit since college and then you get hit like you did last week. What was that like to kind of jump right into that?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it\u2019s interesting. I think I\u2019ve said it before but like, you don\u2019t really feel like, it didn\u2019t seem weird if that makes sense. It seems like it\u2019s just football, like you\u2019ve played your whole life. I\u2019m sure you guys have seen in practice, I haven\u2019t scrambled once since I\u2019ve gotten here. That ability in the game to just kind of feel when to get out and when not to just kind of naturally comes back. You just have that backyard football player in you sometimes when you need it. The getting hit part, I feel like it\u2019s just a natural thing, I\u2019ve been getting hit since I was eight years old.<\/p>\n There was a play where you were kind of backyard football running around, running around and then you got hit pretty good on like the second or third guy that ended up coming in. So, is there a point where there has to be a second clock that goes off, like the clock when you\u2019re in the pocket like, \u201cAlright, get out.\u201d But then the one where, \u201cOkay, I got to get the ball because somebody\u2019s coming?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n That play was interesting because, of course in my mind I\u2019m like, \u2018How do I get the ball down the field?\u2019 We have a guy open and then, also, how do I just get rid of the ball so we can survive. When you\u2019re getting spun around and there\u2019s dudes from all different, you have no idea if you go to throw and someone knocks it out of your hand, you have no idea where someone\u2019s coming from. So, at that point, I\u2019m just like, \u2018How can I get us as close back to the line of scrimmage and just eat it at that point.\u2019 Because eventually when you\u2019re running around like that someone\u2019s going to hit you pretty good. That kind of crossed my mind once I got out of the first group of guys, it was just like, \u2018How can I just get back to the line of scrimmage and just eat this one and survive to play the next down.\u2019<\/p>\n So, when a team gives up six sacks, usually the offensive line gets most of the blame. So, you\u2019re saying, looking over the film, that there are things that you can do as well like just from learning through experience? Like what, just be quicker on your reads, see things pre-snap, what can you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, of course. And that\u2019s what\u2019s so cool about football, it\u2019s such a team game, right? There\u2019s sometimes where I\u2019m going to bail them out and there\u2019s sometimes where they\u2019re going to bail me out. I think that\u2019s where it goes hand-in-hand. The first sack that I took where I got pumped and try to throw it over to the left. We\u2019re in a five-man pro, the backs are releasing, that\u2019s my guy. I got to throw that, that\u2019s not on the o-line. And then later in the game, maybe they miss a pass pro or whatever and I get out of the pocket and make a play on something. So, it goes hand-in-hand and so, that\u2019s kind of why it\u2019s a little bit skewed as far as just like, six sacks is all on the o-line. It\u2019s definitely teamwide and, for one, me just getting the ball out quicker, understanding that those guys are all teeing off up front and how can I just help those guys out and get the ball out of my hands.<\/p>\n Did you have any interaction with the Patriots when you were in the draft, Zach? Did they interview you at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I did, I got to talk to Josh McDaniels a little bit. Super cool dude, I actually liked him a lot. I thought he was a nice dude. He\u2019s obviously a smart guy and does some cool stuff.<\/p>\n Zach, you said you were excited about this opportunity. A lot of players don\u2019t have that much fun against the Patriots. A few years ago, the Jets quarterback was on mic\u2019d up saying, \u201cI\u2019m seeing ghosts out there.\u201d What excited you about facing that defense and facing Belichick?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think it just kind of goes back to, it\u2019s interesting, I look at my college days, if I played bad or didn\u2019t do well, I felt like I was hurting my opportunity for the future. But now, I\u2019m in the NFL. This is a job for me now. It\u2019s cool because there were times where plays were challenging last week and there was adversity and things were going on and then even same this week, it\u2019s like, \u2018This is tough, this a hard job.\u2019 It\u2019s awesome, sometimes I just sit back and smile like, \u2018This is so cool.\u2019 There\u2019s nothing better when you go out there against the Patriots and they maybe smack you in the mouth on one then you stand up and you hit a big throw down the field. That\u2019s the fun part of the game, you never know what you\u2019re going to get. I really just enjoy the challenge of this. Our job is never the same, every single day we\u2019re always looking at something new. I think that\u2019s going to be the exciting part for this week, it\u2019s going to be fun.<\/p>\n One thing that the Patriots like to do is they like to take away one of your favorite targets. Obviously, Corey (Davis) is one of your favorite targets. So, what are things that you can do to make sure that you can still feed Corey, because obviously, if Corey is doing well, then the offense is doing well?<\/strong><\/p>\n You see it all the time, right, there\u2019s great receivers on every team and those guys still manage to get theirs in. Whether it\u2019s a game plan thing and you\u2019re just putting them in situations that\u2019s going to get them the ball. Sometimes when it comes down to one-on-one\u2019s it\u2019s just my guy against yours. I got to have that trust that he\u2019s going to win and then, across the board, it\u2019s how can I just get our other guys involved. We got some great talent across the board that I think a lot of people are going to be able to see soon and, once<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Sam Darnold faced the Patriots we all heard about how he saw ghosts. Bill Belichick hasn’t been kind to rookie quarterbacks. New Jets QB, Zach Wilson, spoke to the media on Wednesday and was asked about the Patriots. Your first go at the Patriots, obviously, thoughts kind of going in, just kind of your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":56982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-56980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured-editorials"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Zach-Wilson-Podium.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-eP2","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56983,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56980\/revisions\/56983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}