The biggest reason I feel he is going to be a big time talent in this league is the abilities he has that you can not teach. A few of the many problems we had with Darnold was his fear inside the pocket and the hitch in his throws. It took a while for the ball to come out when he made a decision which can have a HUGE effect in the NFL. Wilson seems to be super comfortable in the pocket, even when there is a pass rush in his face. Pair that with arm strength and immediate release and we will start seeing some pretty impressive QB play.
This is all true but he also hasn't been hit yet. I thought we had other QBs over the years that looked comfortable in the pocket until they got wrecked back there. I am optimistic about Wilson though
He has not been hit hard but he has been hit a few times. The most impressive was a third down throw against the Packers to Kroft with a defender draped all over him before knocking him to the ground. The amount of velocity on the throw to get the ball there along with the quick release to avoid the sack made it one of his more impressive plays. Edit: The play I mentioned above was the 3rd and 14 and it was against the Giants not the Packers.
Same here. The first game of his that I saw was Coastal Carolina. I wasn't that impressed with him. I didn't like the way he turned his back to the LOS. I had severely underrated Coastal Carolina. Once ColoradoContrails pointed out what he saw in other game tapes, I started watching, and saw those same things jumping off the screen. That's why I did an about face from Fields to Wilson.
The most impressive thing about that throw is even though he's off platform, he's completely balanced. With Darnold there was way too much of this:
he naturally has the ability to make good throws no matter what. not something that can be teached and not something you see from more mechanical QBs
I still like darnold and think he'll do good in carolina. you can like them both, it's not 1 or the other. wilson looks like what I hoped darnold would like like year 3 and he's just a rookie
100% and we will learn a lot more once he has continuously faced NFL starting defenses. This year is going to be fun watching him develop though.
If all this is true, & I don't see why it wouldn't be, after all it's coming from Cimini...cough , Zach is a home run before he even plays in a game. Now put all the words into action on the field, & we've got ourselves a GRAND SLAM, FQB for the next 10+ years! Time will tell.
Hey...enjoy the Beer while it's cold. I've been a Jets fan for 56 years & there hasn't been a whole lot of cold beers sent my way, so I'll enjoy them when they come. Zach is a cold beer. Enjoy the moment.
Hah I recall your Coastal Carolina comments and the debate about his play that game. It speaks well of you that you were able to shift your opinion. It took me awhile to come around to Zach as well but when I started watching film I thought wow but I was still skeptical as I wanted to see people a lot more knowledgeable than me dig into his tape. When Tim Jenkins came out in February on his behalf and broke down his film I was sold as gave some credibility to what I thought looked really good. The more I have learned about ZW since the more I like. While, I love his arm and mechanics I think I am more impressed with his mental side which is something we could not really know outside some of the pieces that touched on it like the Breer article, Steve Young interviews and John Beck pieces. But, I did not expect to be so impressed with his mental makeup. I know it is feel good pre-season hype time but man things are looking good with Zach.
Thanks! I'm an opinionated old cuss, but I try to keep an open mind and at least consider other perspectives and viewpoints. I'm not averse to changing my mind if presented clear evidence that shows perhaps a better option or that I was wrong. I try to keep my ego out of things like that. I'm only a fan after all, and no expert. I've been wrong before, and will be wrong again. I'm just glad that I appear to be so right about Zach for all of our sake.
Right here. And I believe I was wrong. The right move was keeping Darnold ... until we saw what we're starting to see in Zach. Dude is different. Body and mind are hungry, strong and connected. Hope the early signs are the truth.
Forget Wilson's throws. The fact that he didn't make one bad decision in preseason is what gives me hope for the future.
Kudos to your post. Not a lot of people on message boards admit mistakes. Usually, they double down on them. I am going to throw out an unpopular theory that maybe you were not entirely wrong. That Sam on a different team might be much better. Besides the team talent and Gase problems I would argue that he played injured the last two years and maybe we did not really see who he is and what he can be. In 2019 he was Injured mentally from the hits and beating in NE from which I wonder if he will ever recover and last year he had the shoulder injury most of the year and probably should not have been rushed back into the lineup. I don't think he was salvageable in NY but hopefully he will resurrect his career in Carolina. But you are right everything so far about Zach from mechanics, accuracy, footwork, poise, decision making, arm strength and velocity, getting rid of the ball in time, quick release, film study to mental attitude makes you realize how much we were missing in Sam.
Not one person took me up on my bet that Zach would rate higher than Sam at season's end. Still up for grabs... $100 to anyone willing to back their belief in Sam Darnold.
