Garrett Wilson hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 2, and the Jets didn’t get into the end zone at all in last week’s blowout loss to the Chargers.
The second-year wide receiver still has been seeing plenty of action in recent games, with 22 receptions on 38 targets for 270 yards over his past three appearances.
But Wilson spoke with some frustration and urgency Friday regarding a Jets’ offense that ranks among the worst in the NFL in various statistical categories entering Sunday night’s road game against the Raiders — including scoring just 16.5 points per game, third-worst in the league.
“We gotta get in that end zone. It feels like it’s been sacred,” Wilson said after practice in Florham Park. “We gotta go get it. We gotta make it happen, and that’s the mindset. How can we make that happen? We feel like if we do our part on offense, we’ll be in a good spot at the end of the day.
“But we haven’t seen that side of the Jets yet. This season, we haven’t shown that to the world. So to go out and do it would be huge. Because we have these aspirations and we talk about it, but doing it on Sundays is a whole other challenge.”
The Jets’ defense largely has kept the team afloat at 4-4 in the absence of starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was replaced by backup Zach Wilson in the season opener after suffering an Achilles injury.
Wilson has thrown for five touchdowns with five interceptions in eight games, but the Jets haven’t scored a touchdown on a drive lasting more than one play since Oct. 1.
And their 22 percent third-down conversion rate represents the worst in the NFL since at least 1978.
Garrett Wilson admitted that a strong offensive showing in a victory Sunday night in Las Vegas would “relieve myself of some of this stress that’s been coming with this season.”
“You can only control what you can control. That’s the mindset we try to take. But we all want to be great,” he added. “As a team, as individuals, we want to be great. That’s where you see the frustration come from sometimes, knowing it is out of your control sometimes, or not directly in your hands, it’s something that can be added onto that.
“But we know it comes with it, it comes with playing ball at this level, especially against the dudes that we’re going up against. We definitely need to change that frustration to energy on the field and make sure it’s not messing with us in our game plan.”
The 2022 first-round draft pick has posted team highs with 46 receptions for 549 yards for the season, but he hasn’t scored since recording touchdown catches in each of the first two games against the Bills and the Cowboys.
“Receiver is one of the more uncontrollable positions on the field because you are reliant on 1) the play call, 2) the [offensive] line protecting, 3) the quarterback delivering the ball and 4) the defense giving you a coverage that allows you to get the ball or at least gives you a chance to win so you can get the ball,” Robert Saleh said. “Sometimes you can see it and I think that’s why — and it’s league-wide — when you see frustration on the sideline, it’s usually coming from a receiver.
“Because they want to be a part of the game, but when you’re so locked in on the things you have no control over, and this is human nature, all heck breaks loose.”
Garrett Wilson had gotten into a heated sideline argument on camera with Zach Wilson during a Week 3 loss to the Patriots, but he mostly has kept his cool on the field thereafter.
Still, he made a couple of costly mistakes in the loss to the Chargers, a first-quarter fumble and a fourth-quarter penalty negating a big gain.
“He is a competitive young man, he’s a tremendous young man, and he’s a fierce competitor,” Saleh said. “He just wants to help, he just wants to be a part of it.
“It doesn’t come from a selfish, ‘I-need-mine’ mentality. He just wants to help. So, you can deal with that and just continue to work with him and he’s going to continue to challenge everybody to get him the opportunities he needs to help. Then obviously, as coaches, it’s our job to find ways to get him the ball.”