New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh offered plenty of reasons for why quarterback Zach Wilson underperformed in Thursday's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, before saying it ultimately boils down to confidence.
The Jets could only muster three points in the disappointing 19-3 loss, sticking a dagger into their playoff hopes as they dropped their fourth game in a row to turn a promising 7-4 start into 7-8, and likely another wasted season.
Wilson, the second overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, did not lead a single scoring drive in the game, with the Jets' only points coming after a strip-sack from Quinnen Williams was recovered in field goal range.
The 23-year-old completed nine of his 18 passes for 92 yards and an interception before being benched in the fourth quarter, and making matters worse, he was drastically outperformed by backup Chris Steveler after he was only called up from the practice squad this week.
Assessing his own performance, Wilson said he could not find a groove.
"I just felt like I didn't have any rhythm out there," he said. "I was just trying to find some confidence out there on the field, find something to get us going, a little spark.
"We had opportunities – I have to be able to connect on those. We're going to go back and watch it, the coaches will detail it up for us, and I just have to put my head down and try to get better.
"My message to the team out there was I've got to put them in a better position… it's tough.
"I'm working my way through it, but I've got to be optimistic here. I'm just going to go to work and show the guys how much I care for them."
Saleh pointed the finger at more than just his quarterback, but admitted Wilson was not good enough, and is struggling with confidence.
"We couldn't get the running game going again, the protection wasn't as good as we wanted it to be," Saleh said. "Obviously, there were a couple of missed throws, there was [bad] coaching, all the way down.
"Confidence is a big thing. As a human, you're going to have adversity in your life, ups and downs – and, obviously, he's in it right now.
"Zach's the kind of kid who's going to keep his head down, work through it and try to find ways to improve. You'd be remiss saying there wasn't a confidence thing there. We've got to help him out with that, too."
The Jets will be anxiously waiting to see if preferred starter Mike White will be available for their last two games of the season against the Seattle Seahawks and the Miami Dolphins, needing to win both to have any chance at a playoff berth.
Packers, QB Love agree to 4-year, $220 million contract
Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers have agreed to a four-year extension worth $220 million, tying him as the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history, according to multiple sources.
Love, who has only had one full season as an NFL starter, will earn $55 million annually with $155 million guaranteed and a $75 million signing bonus, also the largest in league history.
His yearly salary ties him with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence for highest in NFL history.
After finally trading Aaron Rodgers in April 2023, Love, 25, became the Packers’ undisputed starter. He struggled through the first seven games last season and Green Bay was 2-5 but he took off and the Packers finished 9-8 and earned a wild card spot.
In the Packers’ final eight games of the regular season, Love had 16 touchdowns and one interception. In a 48-32 playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys, he had a near-perfect 157.2 passer rating with 16 of 21 completions for 272 yards, three touchdowns and no picks.
Love completed 372 of 579 passes (64.2 percent) for 4,159 yards last season with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
His 32 TD passes ranked second in the NFL behind Dallas’ Dak Prescott (36).
All that production came while Love was throwing to the most productive, young group of receivers since at least 1970. The Packers’ 302 receptions, 3,642 receiving yards and 31 receiving touchdowns are the most by a team’s group of first-or second-year pass catchers since the AFL/NFL merger.
Green Bay also became the youngest team in that same span to win a playoff game with an average age of 25 years and 214 days.
Dolphins extend Tua Tagovailoa on 4-year, $212M deal
The Miami Dolphins and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa have agreed to a four-year, $212.4million contract extension, multiple media outlets reported Friday.
The contract, which is the largest in franchise history, reportedly includes $167million in guarantees, which ranks eighth among NFL quarterbacks.
With a long-term deal in place, Tagovailoa can focus on preparing for the upcoming season. He had been a minimal participant in Miami’s initial training camp sessions.
Drafted fifth overall out of Alabama, Tagovailoa has had a passer rating over 100 in each of the last two seasons and answered durability concerns by starting all 17 games last year.
While some pundits had been hesitant to endorse a large extension for Tagovailoa, but Dolphins general manager Chris Grier was determined to keep the left-hander in Miami.
"We're strong believers in him. And you guys all feel [coach Mike McDaniel's] passion about him when he talks about him," Grier said in February.
"Just in the two years of what he's done, he's grown in areas to where he led the league in passing and did some great things this year. And we all feel there's still another level he can take it.
"The way he's attacked this and wants to be great, and the combination of Mike and working with that and that trust and belief in each other, we do think there's still another level which he could go."
Tagovailoa completed 69.3 percent of his passes last season for 4,624 yards, 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions while leading the Dolphins to an 11-6 record. The Dolphins’ play-off appearance was brief, ending in a 26-7 loss in frigid Kansas City in the wild-card round.
Since McDaniel took over as head coach, Tagovailoa ranks fourth in the NFL in passing yards (8,172), fifth in passing touchdowns (54) and second in passer rating (102.9).
Atlanta Falcons QB Cousins cleared to practice
Quarterback Kirk Cousins was on the field for the Atlanta Falcons' first training camp practice after being cleared to participate by the team's medical staff.
Head coach Raheem Morris told reporters Thursday that Cousins, recovering from a torn right Achilles tendon sustained in October, will be under slight restrictions during camp but is still expected to handle the majority of first-team reps during team drills.
"Obviously, we'll do some sort of our own modifications [like] some of the things we did with Kirk during the spring, but he's ready to go," Morris said.
"He's fired up, the team's fired up. The limitations for him, you won't notice."
Cousins suffered the injury on Oct. 29 in what turned out to be his final game with the Minnesota Vikings. The four-time Pro Bowl selection signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons in March to address the team's most glaring need, a top-tier starting quarterback.
The soon-to-be 36-year-old is expected to open the season as Atlanta's starter despite the Falcons selecting former University of Washington star quarterback Michael Penix with the eighth overall pick of this year's draft.
Cousins did take part in some drills during the Falcons' offseason training activities in May, but was mainly limited to individual work.
"I think the precaution [in OTAs], I think was pretty much helpful for how we go about the business of keeping people away from him," Morris said. "Now there will be people to be around him, and we feel comfortable with that moving forward and doing some of those things.
"Obviously, some of these limitations will come in our individual drills, making sure we don't wear him out to the point where we want to get all the team reps with him."
Cousins was in the midst of another strong season in 2023, as he was leading the NFL in touchdown passes (18) at the time of his injury in Week 8. The 12-year veteran completed 69.5 per cent of his passes for 2,331 yards with five interceptions in eight games, though the injury prevented him from likely reaching 4,000 passing yards for a fourth straight season.
Morris is also in his first season as the Falcons' permanent head coach, though he went 4-7 as the team's interim coach in 2020 after Atlanta fired Dan Quinn during the season.
Atlanta has finished 7-10 in each of the last three seasons and has missed the playoffs in six consecutive seasons, tied with the Carolina Panthers for the longest active drought among NFC teams.
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