Robert Saleh insisted Zach Wilson’s career with the New York Jets was not over when he benched the 2021 first-round pick last month. Now, Saleh and the Jets are turning to Wilson to help keep their NFL playoff hopes alive.
Saleh told reporters Friday that Wilson will start Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions after team doctors would not clear Mike White to play because of internal injuries he suffered last week.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said the last-minute change does not impact his team’s game plan.
“I mean, we kind of had an idea, so we’re ready,” Campbell said Friday. “We knew he was going into the game anyway, so we figured they were going to play him. So it’s really the same thing, man, it’s about being disciplined. We know what kind of game this’ll be, what they’re going to want to do offensively. We got to play our keys, we got to be disciplined. We got to run, we got to hit, all the same things that we know here.”
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Campbell praised White for the toughness he showed in the Jets’ 20-12 loss to the Buffalo Bills last week, when he completed 27 of 44 passes for 268 yards and twice returned from brutal hits to the midsection.
The Jets benched Wilson in late November after a 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots when the offense managed 103 total yards and six first downs, and Wilson took little accountability for the unit’s poor play.
White led the Jets to a 31-10 win over the Chicago Bears the next week, but lost his past two starts.
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Wilson has completed 55.6% of his passes for 1,279 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions in seven starts this season. He brings a mobile element to the quarterback position, something the Lions have struggled with at times this year.
“The good thing about them, they have a system there and they’re going to run what they’re going to run regardless of who the quarterback is,” Lions linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard said. “The mobility element does factor in and you know that’s things that we’ve had issues with this year as far as these mobile quarterbacks, so that’s something that obviously we have to deal with in the game. But our guys all year has progressed and gotten better and better and better as far as caging in these mobile quarterbacks and things like that. So our plan isn’t going to change whatsoever. We’ve been preparing all week and we’re going to MetLife (Stadium) with our plan.”
For Wilson, who was demoted to third-string after his benching, Sunday’s game marks a shot at redemption and maybe one final chance with the Jets to live up to his billing as the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2021.
“I’m sure he’s a competitor like most players in this league, so he’ll want to go out there and play well,” Campbell said. “He’s certainly talented and they’ll have a good game plan designed for him to where he can succeed and get it to their weapons and control the game and play good defense. They’re going to try to take the pressure off of him as much as possible and just let him be him. Use his talents, his skills.”
‘Starts with the Jets’
The Lions got some of the help they needed in their chase for a playoff spot Thursday, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 21-13, to clinch the NFC West title.
The Seahawks (7-7) remain ahead of the Lions in the NFC standings, and hold the tiebreaker by virtue of their October win at Ford Field, but the Lions (6-7) can pull within a half-game of the final wild-card spot with a win over the Jets and a non-tie in Sunday’s New York Giants-Washington Commanders game.
The Giants-Commanders winner will control the second wild card, while the loser will have the seventh and final playoff seed. Both teams are 7-5-1.
Campbell said it was “nice” to see the 49ers win, but is most encouraged about his team’s playoff chances because of “where we are.”
“We know we’ve got a chance, but we also know we feel like we need to win out here and it all starts with the Jets,” Campbell said. “If we don’t handle our business it’s all for naught. It’s nice to be able to look up there and see that’s a team that’s in front of us that did get a loss, and so it’s hard to ignore that. But also we know, our guys know we have to do our part.”
After visiting the Jets, the Lions close the season with three straight games against teams with losing records: At the Carolina Panthers, home against the Chicago Bears and at the Green Bay Packers.
The Seahawks visit the Kansas City Chiefs next week and close the season with home games against the Jets and Los Angeles Rams; the Commanders visit the 49ers and host the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys to close the season; and the Giants have games remaining at the Minnesota Vikings, home vs. the Indianapolis Colts and at the Philadelphia Eagles.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.