Jets’ Zach Wilson faces even tougher test in Bills’ defense

These are unsettled times for Zach Wilson.

The Jets’ second-year quarterback is coming off arguably the worst performance of his career in Sunday’s 22-17 loss to the Patriots, against whom he threw three interceptions — the final two egregious, careless heaves right into the arms of New England defenders.

And now Wilson gets to face the 6-1 Bills on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, where Buffalo brings the stingiest scoring defense in the NFL.

For context, the Patriots’ defense that stifled Wilson and the Jets offense has allowed 163 points in eight games this season. The Bills have yielded only 98 in their seven games.

Translation: The Bills’ defense, with a lot more pass-rush firepower (hello, Von Miller), is a lot better than the Patriots’ defense.

That’s not a good combination platter for Wilson, who’s the worst quarterback in the NFL against pressure, completing only 19 percent of his passes under duress.

Still, though, Wilson presented a brave face on Thursday after practice, speaking for the first time since his agitated postgame press conference following the loss to New England that featured a lot of clipped answers.

Wilson on Thursday vowed that he has “moved on’’ from his miserable, mistake-riddled performance against the Patriots.

“The mindset is within 24 hours we’ve all moved on,’’ Wilson said. “Now, I’ve learned from those mistakes. There’s things I want back, but those are behind me and you try to reapply them in practice. Of course, there’s always plays you want back, and the last game I had some plays that I really want back.

“In that game, even in desperation mode, I can’t be forcing the ball like that. We have a great defense and I’ve got to keep relying on them, allow them to put us in a good situation on offense.’’

That’s been the message from Jets head coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.

“The ball is the most important stat in all of NFL football,’’ LaFleur said Thursday. “It’s the stat that never lies. When you win the turnover battle, your percentage of winning football games [increases greatly].’’

LaFleur said his message to Wilson is to “let him know it’s not all on him and just be there to support him.’’

“He’s made of all the right stuff,’’ LaFleur went on. “He’ll learn from it. He’s approached this week of practice … in the right mindset to go do right for himself and more importantly this team.”

Saleh, sometimes seeming like he’s shouting from the hills, constantly talks about how it’s “OK to be boring,’’ referring to Wilson, who on Sunday after the loss admitted that it sucks to be boring.

When you hear things like this, sometimes you wonder if he’s getting the message.

If Wilson shows more signs of the carelessness with the football early in Sunday’s game against the Bills, Jets fans can bet their PSLs that the home crowd will be calling for Mike “effing’’ White, who became a bit of a cult hero when he played in 2021.

This is another challenge lurking for Wilson. White last week was elevated to the No. 2 quarterback role, making him that much closer to playing despite the fact that Saleh insisted on Wednesday that Wilson’s starting job isn’t in jeopardy.

That, of course, is not Wilson’s focus at the moment, nor should it be. The Buffalo defense is squarely his focus.

“These guys are good,’’ Wilson said. “But we’re a good team. We’re close, and things are getting closer every week. For us, it’s going out there and taking on the challenge and understanding that we can beat these guys. We’ve just got to go out there and execute. Execution is the key.’’

Part of Wilson’s challenge is maintaining his confidence to be aggressive while avoiding those bonehead mistakes he made Sunday.

“The difficulty is being aggressively smart,’’ Wilson said. “I had some plays in that last game that just weren’t smart and I’ve got to take those out. Sometimes, interceptions are going to happen when the defense makes a good play, and you can live with those ones. But I’ve got to be better on some of the other ones.

“The mindset is you’ve got to be aggressive. I feel like we’ve done that, but it’s how can we clean up some of the mistakes?”

Wilson started the New England game playing efficient, play-making quarterback. But his performance curiously devolved as the game wore on.

Asked on Thursday where it started to go the other way on him against the Patriots, he said, “It’s just football. I feel like every week, you guys [reporters] are asking what happened in the first half compared to the second half. It’s just football. And you’ve got to have short-term memory. You’ve got to move on.”