The way Bill Belichick speaks about Zach Wilson is incongruent with the way he coaches against the young Jets quarterback.
Belichick's Patriots never have looked worried about Wilson, who's 0-3 in his career against New England with a 54% completion percentage, seven interceptions and just two touchdowns. Most recently, Wilson threw three picks while looking absolutely spooked in a Week 8 home loss to the Patriots.
Yet, with a huge rematch against Wilson and New York looming on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, Belichick on Monday continued to praise the consistently unimpressive sophomore quarterback.
"I don't know how you can not see (Wilson's success), they've won six games," Belichick said during his weekly appearance on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" program. "(Wilson is) really athletic, has a good arm, made a lot of big plays for them with his legs and arm. They use a lot of on-the-line decision-making with the quarterback, RPOs and checks, things like that.
"The Jets are a good team, they have a lot of good players. He's one of them."
In Wilson's defense, he looked much better in the Jets' Week 9 home victory over the Buffalo Bills.
The second overall pick from the 2021 NFL Draft completed 18 of 25 passes for 154 yards and one touchdown in a winning effort. Most importantly, Wilson didn't turn the ball over and allowed New York's defense to control the game.
Sunday's Patriots-Jets game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET.
