New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh said Wednesday at a news conference that the team will start Joe Flacco at quarterback for their Week 1 season opener Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Saleh also told reporters that the team’s top quarterback, Zach Wilson, will not play for at least the next three weeks as he recovers from the right knee injury sustained in an Aug. 12 preseason game. The second-year quarterback underwent surgery on his right knee days after the injury.
Wilson won’t return until at least Week 4, when the team faces the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 2 in Pittsburgh. Saleh said of Wilson: “We are going to make sure that both mind and body are 110% and make sure we do right with him. We feel like, talking to the doctors and everyone, that it’s going to be that Pittsburgh week.”
The 37-year-old Flacco completed 64.3% of his throws for 338 yards and three touchdowns in two appearances last season for the Jets. He completed 24 of 39 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns in his lone start in 2021, a 24-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 21. Wilson completed 55.6% of his throws for 2,334 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 13 starts last season.
The Jets will host the Ravens in their season opener at 1 p.m. EDT Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The Ravens are 5.5-point favorites.
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