No one would say it out loud.
Not Jets head coach Robert Saleh. Not quarterback Zach Wilson. Not receiver Garrett Wilson.
But Zach Wilson’s actions said it.
THROW THE BALL TO NO. 17.
This was the Jets’ clear and distinct mantra entering Sunday’s 30-6 win over the Texans at MetLife Stadium.
Mission accomplished.
Zach Wilson threw to Garrett Wilson … threw to Garrett Wilson … and threw to Garrett Wilson some more.
Fourteen times, to be exact.
Wilson caught nine of them for 108 yards.
The Houston secondary had no answers for Wilson.
“He’s becoming more and more un-guardable every day,” Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner said of Wilson, one of his fellow 2022 draft mates. “If you’re going one-on-one with him, you know you’re going to have to work. You have to find ways [to stop him]. You’ve got to watch extra tape. He’s a different receiver. He plays outside of his framework, his body. He’s just different.
“You can’t just look at him and say, ‘He’s going to do this,’ because it’s always going to be an un-scouted look. He’s just developing every week.”
Wilson is one of the most accountable players on the Jets.
He’s one of the two or three most talented players on the team.
And he’s been frustrated with the losing.
Frustrated about not getting enough touches, though he’s not the type of player to grouse about it publicly.
At the end of the day, all Wilson wants to do it win, his own stat line be damned.
Even on Sunday, Wilson deflected any talk about his own standout stats and directed everything to his quarterback and the team’s defense.
When asked about the 14 targets, he simply said, “It’s good to find a rhythm on offense. When you’re in a rhythm like that, everything seems easier. The easy plays get made, the ones that are 50-50 balls all of a sudden go your way. I feel like we felt that today. We were making the plays we should have made, the checkdowns are going for 40 [yards]. Hopefully, we can carry that over this week.
“It feels great. We were on a five-game losing streak and we wanted to shake this funk and hope to finish the season the right way. That was a start.”
He hopes it’s a start for the offense as a whole helping out the defense, which has carried the team all season.
“That’s what they deserve,” Wilson said of the offense producing three touchdowns Sunday after scoring 10 in the previous 12 games. “It’s been hard to know that they’re one of the best in the league and we’re not. This is what they deserve. We want to give them that — what do you call it [in baseball] with a pitcher? We want to give them run support, so they don’t have to put it all on themselves.’’
There was a funny moment inside the locker room after the game with Jets running back Breece Hall, who caught eight passes for 86 yards and a TD, joking with reporters that, “Me and Garrett always argue about it, but I think I’m the best player on the offense. I’m the best player whenever I’m out on the field.’’
When Wilson was informed of Hall revealing their personal competition, he laughed and said, “Breece got that? I didn’t even know we had that, but now that he said it, I’m gonna … yeah, the competition started now, though.’’
If the Jets’ offense, led by Wilson and Hall, continues to play the way it did Sunday, the final four games figure to be a fun watch — even if a playoff berth is out of reach.