Australian Jordan Mailata was fired up after an unnecessary late shot from New York’s Quincy Williams late Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts crashing to the ground.
The Jets scored a 24-21 win over the Eagles in the pre-season game but coach Robert Saleh was left less than impressed by Williams’ cheap shot.
The incident, which happened in the first quarter, saw Hurts forced to scramble towards the sideline on a third-and-5 play for no gain.
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Williams though came charging towards Hurts, even with the Eagles quarterback clearly heading for the sideline, hitting him late and hard.
That was to the displeasure of Australian left tackle Mailata, who came running over to confront Williams, telling reporters post-game he was “seeing red” after the hit.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was also livid, with the Eagles awarded a 15-yard penalty which ultimately led to them scoring the opening touchdown of the game.
Jets coach Saleh admitted to reporters after the game that it was a bad look and something Williams needed to address.
“You know, it’s one thing to make a mistake in the game,” Saleh said, calling the hit “egregiously awful”.
“It’s another thing to make a mistake that leads to points.”
Hurts was not injured by the shot, although the Jets will be sweating on quarterback Zach Wilson after he injured his right knee on a scramble in the first quarter.
Based on how Wilson went down, there was fear that he had torn his ACL, which would end his season.
But after the game, head coach Robert Saleh said initial tests indicated the ACL was intact, but nothing would be known with certainty until Wilson underwent an MRI exam on Saturday. Sources said the Jets had optimism that Wilson’s injury will only cause him to miss weeks and not months.
After initially being wrong on his diagnosis of tackle Mekhi Becton earlier in the week, Saleh chose his words carefully in the postgame press conference.
“I’m always concerned until you get the final evaluation,” Saleh said. “We’ve walked off the field with very positive thoughts and it’s been the opposite. We’ve walked off the field with bad initial readings and it’s been the opposite. I’m just going to let it play out and we’ll see [Saturday].”
The injury came on the Jets’ second drive of the game.
Saleh said Wilson “100 percent” should have gone out of bounds.
“It was tough, man to see a guy like that, a guy that you’ve got so much love for not just as a player but as a person to go down like that it was tough,” wide receiver Corey Davis said. “We don’t know the extent of his injury but we just hope he’s all right.”
Wilson also injured his right knee last season as a rookie. That injury, a sprained PCL suffered on Oct. 24 at New England, cost Wilson four games. ESPN reported Friday that the Jets believe the new injury may also be to Wilson’s PCL.
The Jets have high hopes for Wilson in his second season after a disappointing rookie season. The entire offseason was about surrounding Wilson with better talent.
For a while it looked like the lowlight of Wilson’s night would be an interception by Eagles linebacker Kyzir White that ended the Jets’ first drive of the game. Wilson went 3-for-5 for 23 yards and the interception before suffering the injury.
If Wilson is ruled out, the question will become whether the Jets will stick with veteran Joe Flacco as their starter or try to make a trade for 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whom San Francisco has been trying to trade for months without finding a taker. Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur were with Garoppolo for 3 ½ years in San Francisco.
“You guys know how I feel about Joe,” Saleh said of Flacco. “Everyone does, the whole world does. Joe is a phenomenal football player. He’s having a great camp and he’s got a juice left.”
— with the New York Post
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