THE NEW YORK Jets fell to a fourth straight loss, benching quarterback Zach Wilson in the process, as they suffered a 19-3 home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday.
In wet and windy conditions, the Jaguars made it three wins in a row and kept their playoff hopes alive while the home fans vented their frustration at Wilson as their post-season chances further faded.
The Jaguars move to 7-8 and could yet face a final-week AFC South title decider against the Tennessee Titans who are currently 7-7.
Wilson was taken out and replaced by Chris Streveler near the end of the third quarter after he had thrown 9 for 18 with 92 yards passing and an interception.
The quarterback, last year’s number two overall pick in the draft, had already been replaced as starter this season by Mike White but started for the second straight game after White was ruled out with a rib injury.
Looking far from confident Wilson was booed by his own fans throughout as he struggled to get the Jets offense going.
Asked why Wilson was struggling to make a positive impact, Jets coach Robert Saleh sounded stumped.
“I don’t have that answer, there is a lot of stuff we have got to talk about,” he said but he didn’t appear optimistic about a quick upturn in form for the team.
“It’s not about playoffs right now, it’s not, we have played four consecutive teams who are in the hunt for the playoffs and we battled three of them, I am just really disappointed about this display,” he added.
In contrast to Wilson, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence looked comfortably in charge as he threw for 229 years, completing 20 of 31 passes and no interceptions.
Adapting to the conditions, Lawrence also carried the ball seven times for 51 yards and a touchdown.
“I thought his decision-making was good, for the most part I thought he did a nice job of controlling and managing what we asked him to do, he played tough and physical and it was good to see,” said Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson
After the teams exchanged field goals in the first quarter, Lawrence ended a 16-play, 96-yard drive by leaping into the end-zone himself for a one-yard score.
With the Jets offense totally dysfunctional, the Jaguars were content to collect three more field goals from Riley Patterson to secure the win.
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