Getty New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson against the Buffalo Bills in Week 9.
Flashback two and a half weeks ago and New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson had the full force of the NYC media breathing down his neck after an ugly loss against the New England Patriots.
Some criticized the young signal-caller after the game, not just because of the careless interceptions, but because he got snippy with the swarm of beat reporters during his postgame press conference. Wilson was short with quite a few responses but the worst might have been a quote where he voiced, “I don’t care about stats,” to SNY’s Connor Hughes.
Today on November 17, NYJ media members caught up with Wilson once again, revisiting his “emotions” after the Patriots loss.
Jets’ Zach Wilson Trolls NY Media After Patriots Question
The question read: “Zach, you were pretty emotional when you came off the field against them a couple of weeks ago, how do you keep those emotions out of the way in this game?”
Wilson didn’t shy away from the answer with a brutally honest reply that took a bit of a shot at the media. “I thought they were good emotions. I mean, I was frustrated. I still believe nobody outside of this building knows what they’re talking about,” he finished with a smile.
New York Daily News reporter Antwan Staley shared a video of the clip.
#Jets QB Zach Wilson was asked about his emotions after the loss to the Patriots three weeks ago:
“I thought they were good emotions. I was frustrated and I still believe nobody outside this building knows what they’re talking about.”
Surprisingly, one reporter was ready with a snide retort of his own. “Well, I do,” the man said, to which Wilson responded — “You do? Why’d you turn down a coaching position?” By the end of the exchange, the Jets QB had a big grin on his face but the message was received nonetheless as fans respected the youngster’s “fire” on social media.
Hughes then shared a clip of his own, to which one fan commented: “Posting yourself getting bodied takes a big man; I respect it connor.” The veteran beat reporter was sure to point out that he didn’t ask the question, but fans circled back to his stats remark from Week 8.
“He’s 100% referring to you and the stats thing,” a fan tweeted back at him. The back-and-forth ended there.
Clapping back at the media is a start, but NYJ faithful would prefer to see Wilson clap back at the Patriots on the gridiron. After all, Bill Belichick has had his number since he entered the league in 2021.
Zach Wilson ‘Excited’ for Pats, Doesn’t Feel He Needs to ‘Prove’ Anything
During the rest of the interview, Wilson talked about the challenge that New England poses and why he’s “excited” to face it head-on.
“Excited because it’s another challenge,” the quarterback voiced, “this is a big divisional game for us obviously, so not necessarily to feel like I gotta prove anything… but just the progress of — we won a big game last week and it’s on to the next and this is our next challenge. These guys are a great team, they do a great job defensively, so I am looking at it that way [and] I’m super excited for this game.”
Wilson also explained what he was able to learn from the “frustrating” defeat at MetLife Stadium, which still stands as his first and only loss of the 2022 season.
“You want to get things going [but] right there is just one more throw away and playing the field position,” he stated while reflecting on his final interception.
As for the first-place implications that are attached to a victory, Wilson did his best to downplay that storyline. “You just go out there and play football like we have,” he replied, “lean on each other, and execution across the board one play at a time.”
Wilson reiterated that his personal “mindset” this week is “taking it one play at a time” as well — “trusting in the offense and trusting in the guys around me.”