Grading Zach Wilson's Week 8 performance against the Giants

It was ugly, but a win is a win. The NY Jets took down their cross-town rivals, the New York Giants, in a game that saw some less-than-stellar offense, to say the least.

Zach Wilson’s game is difficult to evaluate — he did not play well, but he also did not have much going his way either. It was a frustrating game for all involved, but Wilson got them in field goal range in the last 30 seconds of the game to tie and then again in overtime to get the Jets the win.

Zach Wilson's Week 8 performance

Wilson completed 17-of-36 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown. Obviously, this is a poor stat line, but there is some context needed. The Jets lost two of their starting offensive lineman and were forced to put Xavier Newman in at center.

Newman is fresh off the practice squad and has barely played center in his football career. Billy Turner was also forced into an unfamiliar position at right guard.

This led to a lot of pressure on Wilson and no run game to lean on. There was also the rain factor that seemed to throw things off for both sides.

Then there were the problems with the receivers. Besides Garrett Wilson, the other wide receivers were not getting open, and when they were, they had a few drops. Allen Lazard and Breece Hall each had a few drops that could have been pivotal plays.

According to Pro Football Focus, Wilson was under pressure on 51.2 percent of his dropbacks. He had one turnover-worthy play that occurred on a play where he was pressured. If nothing else, Wilson has certainly improved by cutting down his turnovers from the previous two seasons. He only has one interception in the last five weeks.

When he had a clean pocket, Wilson was much better. In 21 dropbacks, he completed 11 passes on 20 attempts for 174 yards and a touchdown. 

Now, it was not all good — he still made many mistakes of his own. Wilson took multiple sacks in situations where he just could not afford to do so. He also missed a few throws, including an easy dump-off to Breece Hall that would have been their first third-down conversion of the game.

It was certainly a bad game for Zach Wilson and the offense. They have a lot to figure out before next Monday against the Los Angeles Chargers, but on maybe their worst day, they still secured a victory.

Grade: C