Joe Namath blasts struggling Jets QB Zach Wilson: 'I've seen enough'
Joe Namath knows what it means to win with the New York Jets.
The Hall of Fame quarterback, who lives in Tequesta, says that current quarterback Zach Wilson isn't the answer for the franchise he spent more than a decade with.
"I've seen enough of Zach Wilson, all right," Namath said Monday on ESPN New York's "The Michael Kay Show" after the Jets lost to the New England Patriots 15-10 at home. "I've seen enough. Has quick feet, can throw a little bit, but I don't believe what's going on up there."
Namath, who captured the Jets' only Super Bowl victory with an upset win over the Baltimore Colts in Miami in 1969, said that he is jaded by head coach Robert Saleh's continued belief in the third-year quarterback. Saleh expressed confidence in Wilson multiple times after four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers was lost for the season in Week 1 to a torn Achilles tendon.
Joe Namath: Do you remember football legend’s Lake Worth restaurant?
The Super Bowl III MVP suggested that Wilson should spend time as a backup learning the game and was not worthy of being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, especially after a sack against the Patriots where he fell without being touched.
"I'm saying I don't believe in him," Namath said. "I don't believe he has a future as a good player, and I think they made a wrong choice when they drafted him. I feel that way. He has some athletic ability, but you've got to have something up here that's going on whenever you're studying, reading, playing out there."
Namath also called out offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. Before the season started, the assistant coach was criticized by Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton for his one-season performance in the same role.
"How many months ago was that to learn the offense? How many months ago was that? C'mon. Now, Aaron, he got hurt. OK. Well, why do you think you have backups there for? They're ready to go." Namath said. "They're supposed to be ready to go.
"We're looking at an offense that just doesn't play well. You've got an offensive coordinator that doesn't seem to be calling the right plays. I just think for this fan, they need to make major changes from top to bottom."
He said that "top to bottom" would include firing Saleh. The third-year head coach has emphasized the strength of the team culture despite starting 1-2 and only scoring 10 points in each loss.
"How can a coach say, 'The locker room's together?' " Namath continued. "How many teams have we been on? You're telling me there aren't some cats on the defensive side saying, 'Whoa, man. What's wrong with you?' There's not all harmony in the locker room and if there is, they need to get rid of the people. You've got to get people in there that are competitors and want to fight to win."
Namath said he hasn't met the 24-year-old Wilson, who last year Saleh said he'd develop "through hell or high water," but has made his conclusions anyway.
"I only know what I see out there," Namath said. "It's hard to tell what's going on between a guy's ears, and the mind does play a major role on your team, in your team and every individual in your team. Whatever position they're playing, they have a duty, they have plays to carry out and they have to do them with regularity, and he's far from that."
After life in New York, Fort Lauderdale, Joe Namath found tranquility in Tequesta, Florida
Namath's personal history in the area goes back three decades. Namath has called the Jupiter-Tequesta area home for nearly 33 years. He’s lived in Tequesta, in the same house on the Loxahatchee River, the entire time.
He had a condo in Fort Lauderdale, where he partly owned a nightclub called Bachelors III. It was a popular singles hangout throughout the 1970s, booking national acts including Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Supremes, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis and others.
“We had some wonderful times, lots of entertainment,” he told The Palm Beach Post about the club-/restaurant that operated in a space now occupied by a Bank of America branch. “But gradually I needed more room when I started a family.”
Namath had survived the New York bachelor years he describes as a victory for the two guardian angels that flanked him. It’s a Gemini thing, he jokes.
“When I was living in New York and working, playing ball, I would envision myself standing on Third Avenue late one night, with one guardian angel sitting here and one sitting here,” he says, motioning to each shoulder. “I wore them out. But I needed them. They protected me in that big city, boy. If I didn’t have them at night, I don’t know where I’d have ended up.”
There came a time when a newly married Namath wanted more than condo living for his wife and their toddler, Jessica.
“A friend who was a Realtor up here said, ‘Come up here and look around.’ And the first place she showed us is the place I’m still at,” he says. “I’ve got a lot of gratitude for that.”
Namath’s move to Tequesta wasn’t the first time the county welcomed Broadway Joe. In early 1970, he had a fleeting interest in a short-lived fast-food chain also called Broadway Joe’s. The chain had a location on Lake Worth Road, just west of Interstate 95. A Christian café now operates in that space.
When the football star moved to north county, he found the place to be significantly different from his big-city stomping grounds.
“Indiantown Road was one lane east and one lane west. I remember I went to pick up my brother Frank at the airport terminal on Southern Boulevard and I thought, ‘Wow, this is really country!’ ” he says.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Joe Namath blasts struggling Jets QB Zach Wilson: 'I've seen enough'
