How\u2019s the knee coming along?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, good. Obviously, I would like to be back quicker. But I think for, as far as a knee injury, I think it\u2019s probably a better one you could\u2019ve hoped for as far as just being able to recover and get back. I\u2019m just trying to do everything I can in the training room to just make it feel as good as I can.<\/p>\n Do you feel any physical limitations?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, right now I\u2019m definitely not 100% still. That\u2019s why I\u2019m going through this practice to just try and get back to feeling normal, going through everything, because when you take a couple of weeks off and you don\u2019t run, even this week is a big feel week for me as far as just having the knee feel like normal. A little bit of scrambling and moving around, it doesn\u2019t feel 100% there and that\u2019s why we\u2019re doing a lot of this.<\/p>\n In your absence, obviously Mike\u2019s (White) played some really good football and we were talking to Robert (Saleh) yesterday and he had said how, based off of how Mike\u2019s playing he kind of has the obligation to keep him out there as long as he\u2019s playing the way that he is. Mike staying out there obviously means that you\u2019re not out there, so how do you handle that situation and how do you assess that situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n I handle it the only way I can. Controlling what I can control, doing what I can every day in practice. I\u2019d say the relationship me and Mike White have, I\u2019d probably say I\u2019m the closest with him than any one on the team. We have a really good relationship, so I feel like I can take advantage of that opportunity, be able to learn from the reps that he\u2019s going through and things that he\u2019s seeing and doing. My time will come, I just have to work on just keep getting healthy and taking my practice reps very seriously and how I can just get back to the groove of playing.<\/p>\n When you think about it now and you look back at the games you were playing, do you think of it now that things were moving quickly or quicker than you thought at that time, you know what I mean? That now you can kind of slow it down as you look at it from this perspective.<\/strong><\/p>\n I would say the biggest thing that I took away is just getting used to the NFL game. You start to see our same plays getting run over and over again against different teams and kind of how certain things play out against certain coverages or when someone plays something this way, this is kind of the answer to it. So, I just think the more reps, the more you just bank, kind of how plays are going to play out. So, it\u2019s been really cool for me just to kind of sit back and see, he did something different than I might have, but it\u2019s like, wow, that was really cool to see how this worked out because he did that. It\u2019s cool things I can learn from, but of course as a rookie that\u2019s the whole thing is, you\u2019re learning every single play. It\u2019s very beneficial in my opinion to be able to go through all of those things, because I have times where I\u2019ve watched every single game so far this year that I\u2019ve played in and I go back now and I\u2019m just like, jeez, what am I doing? There\u2019s times for that where you feel like you\u2019re learning a lot from them.<\/p>\n Now that you\u2019ve had a chance to watch Mike play, what do you think makes him a good quarterback, in your estimation?<\/strong><\/p>\n I would say his ability to eliminate, just quickly go through the process. His ability to not feel like he needs to force something, he\u2019s just going to take what the defense gives him. I would say my style of play needs to get more like that. I need to be able to, it was the same thing in college. Maybe I forced things a little bit too much my freshman, sophomore year, but I found that balance my junior year. I found what risks were worth it and I was still able to still have those big explosive plays, but I took care of the ball. So, that\u2019s kind of the same thing now. It\u2019s like, okay, which one\u2019s can I take the risk down the field and which one\u2019s should I just give it to my backs and let those guys go make some plays.<\/p>\n When you are fully healthy, do you expect to regain the starting job?<\/strong><\/p>\n I can\u2019t even worry about that really, like what I said, I just got to go to practice every single day, learn from his reps, talk with those guys and just control what I can control.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your reaction to just, it\u2019s old news, it happened yesterday, but just to be starting again?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s awesome to be able to get another chance of playing and going out there, competing with your guys. It\u2019s going to be a lot of fun. Kind of been taking it on a week-by-week basis, but hearing that was pretty cool.<\/p>\n When were you able to throw the football again? Were you able to do it that night?<\/strong><\/p>\n So, I didn\u2019t throw that night. I came back and got some treatment over the weekend and then Monday, we went out and tested it and it felt good. So, Monday was the first time I threw after the game.<\/p>\n You went from kind of this team\u2019s backup quarterback, not talked about too much. You had that game against the Bengals, the Colts game, heard all over the radio, all over the TV, how have things changed for you and have you taken note of it at all when you\u2019ve gone to stores and things like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I mean you\u2019ll get a couple of, \u201cHey, what\u2019s up?\u201d or \u201cHope you feel better,\u201d things like that. Took my kids to the doctor the other day, they had just got in town so we took them to the doctor, the doctor said something so that was pretty funny. The only thing that\u2019s really changes is you walk in the locker room and some of these guys won\u2019t stop chanting \u201cMike White.\u201d I told them, I go, \u2018It\u2019s got to stop at some point, guys.\u2019 You get stuff here and there and it\u2019s cool, but you kind of got to brush it off almost and stay locked in.<\/p>\n Do you expect to hear the \u2018Mike White\u2019 chants this week?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ll see. I hope there\u2019s \u201cMike White\u201d chants because that means the offense is doing something good, so I hope to hear some type of cheering from the fans.<\/p>\n After the Bengals game, you were asked if you felt you could be a quality NFL starter in the long-term, and you said 100 percent. If someone told you, you could take off from here and become one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, is that something you could conceive of and believe, and if so, why?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. I definitely believe that, and I think if you ask any quarterback in the NFL and they don\u2019t give you that answer then that\u2019s kind of an issue. You need to have 100 percent confidence in yourself. No matter if you\u2019re the quarterback, the left guard, you\u2019re the starting corner, everybody\u2019s got to be able to have an unbelievable amount of confidence in themselves and that\u2019s the only way you can play this game in my mind. I\u2019m convinced you can\u2019t go out there and kind of not so sure about yourself, because that\u2019s when you\u2019ll mentally lock up and you\u2019ll do things that are not in your realm. So, I think anybody on an NFL football field needs to have 100 percent confidence in themselves.<\/p>\n You talk about your confidence so much and you\u2019re showing it now. Was it hard to stay confident when you weren\u2019t playing? Or did you always maintain this?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, there\u2019s definitely some ups and downs, especially throughout my short NFL career so far. Just from getting drafted, to being released, to being on practice squad, being up and down and that\u2019s part of anybody, for most people, their NFL journey. There\u2019s going to be some ups and there\u2019s going to be some downs and it\u2019s all about mental toughness and sticking to it and having confidence in yourself. So yeah, there\u2019s definitely been some trying times where you\u2019re kind of on the lows and you got to pick yourself up and \u201cso what, now what\u201d and no one feels sorry for you. You just got to keep pushing.<\/p>\n Do you consider yourself, this to be your job now?<\/strong><\/p>\n I operate on a week-to-week basis and this week, I\u2019m the quarterback for the team so my job is to be prepared and go out there and help execute the offense and next week, we\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get there. Whatever job the team gives me, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do to the best of my ability.<\/p>\n It seems that Robert Saleh\u2019s philosophy is that the best players are going to play no matter where you were drafted, no matter what your contract status is. Does that give you a level of comfort, knowing that philosophy basically puts it in your hands? If you\u2019re the best player, you\u2019re going to play at that position.<\/strong><\/p>\n I think, like I reiterated earlier, I try to make this not any bigger than it needs to be. And I try to stick true to that with everything. And that\u2019s my mindset right now, is going out and figuring out a way to beat the Buffalo Bills and once we hit Monday and we restart the next week, then we cross that bridge when we get there, week-by-week, until the end of the year, and then kind of go from there. And I think the moment you start letting your mind wander or go too far, is when you start to lose track of what\u2019s right in front of you, and that\u2019s when kind of bad things can start to happen.<\/p>\n Looking at this form the outside, this has the potential to be an awkward situation between you and Zach. Just how have you been navigating that, and what is your relationship like with him?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think it\u2019s been awkward for a second. I think he\u2019s been so supportive, and he\u2019s been awesome. And it hasn\u2019t changed our relationship one bit, and it won\u2019t. I think, like I said earlier, I know he\u2019s operating on a week-to-week basis with his knee and trying to get ready and get healthy to play. And I\u2019m obviously executing what job is being given to me. So, he\u2019s been awesome throughout all this, and being back on the field, and practicing, he\u2019s been able to, \u201cHey, I saw this.\u201d And we just kind of go back and forth and feed off of each other and just work together.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zach Wilson How\u2019s the knee coming along?\u00a0 Yeah, good. Obviously, I would like to be back quicker. But I think for, as far as a knee injury, I think it\u2019s probably a better one you could\u2019ve hoped for as far as just being able to recover and get back. I\u2019m just trying to do everything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":57404,"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":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-57403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jet-news"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Zach-Wilson-Mike-White.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-eVR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57403","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=57403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57405,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57403\/revisions\/57405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mike White<\/h1>\n