NFL legends address struggles of Jets' Zach Wilson

Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman ripped New York Jets starter Zach Wilson amid the club's 27-6 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, but Aikman also somewhat defended the much-maligned Wilson. 

"...Anyone who has anything to do with this offense, coaches included, they’ve got to look at themselves in the mirror," Aikman said about the Jets during ESPN's broadcast of Monday's game, per Michael Dixon of Awful Announcing. "Because everybody has to be better than what we’ve watched tonight. I’ve been in locker rooms, not many of them, when the offense is struggling and how demoralizing that can be for a defense. And for as good as this group is, for them not to get a chance to do some really special things with this team because an offense can’t score a touchdown? Pretty maddening."

Before Wilson ultimately completed 33-of-49 passes for 263 yards with no touchdowns, zero interceptions and two lost fumbles against the Chargers, former New York Giants signal-caller Eli Manning suggested early in the ESPN2 "ManningCast" for Monday's matchup that the Jets need to open things up and let the third-year pro take more chances as long as he's starting over the injured Aaron Rodgers. 

"He’s playing not to make mistakes," Manning said about Wilson during the Jets' first offensive drive of Monday's contest, according to Kelsey Dallas of the Deseret News. "I think they’ve got to let him go a little bit...He’s being told, 'Hey, don’t make a mistake.' Because of that, he’s rushing through some decisions."

The Jets lucked into a 13-10 overtime win over the Giants on Oct. 29 but fell to 4-4 via Monday's defeat. As shown by ESPN stats, Wilson ended Week 9 ranked 31st in the NFL among 32 qualified players with a 32.3 adjusted QBR on the season. Across the campaign's first eight games, he tossed five touchdown passes and five interceptions. 

Meanwhile, the Jets are 31st in the league with an average of 272.9 offensive yards per game and 30th with an average of 16.5 points per contest. 

"I don’t know if they’re a good football team," Aikman added about the Jets during a postgame "SportsCenter" appearance. "I mean, it’s hard to look at them tonight and say that they’re good. They’re great on defense and I thought the defense was terrific again tonight. But is that a good football team that we watched tonight? No. I don’t think so. I think they’re a bad team with a great defense is what I think they are. And I don’t know that they were a playoff team coming in. I didn’t see anything tonight that suggests they’re a playoff team." 

Rodgers may physically be "a few weeks" away from returning to the lineup from the torn Achilles he suffered in Week 1, but it remains to be seen if the Jets will possess a winning record when the future Hall of Famer is medically cleared. The Jets next play at the 4-5 Las Vegas Raiders this coming Sunday night, and oddschecker listed Gang Green as a 1.5-point favorite for that game as of Tuesday afternoon.