The Jets’ playoff push took an interesting turn this week when quarterback Mike White was ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Lions due to his broken ribs. 

Enter Zach Wilson. 

We’ll get to see if Zach Wilson 2.0 looks any different than the player who was benched four weeks ago after a terrible performance in New England. Wilson has been watching the past three weeks as White won over his teammates and the fans, but only won one of the three games. 

Wilson has been working on improving his fundamentals and undergoing a “reset.” It was unclear how long his timeout would last, but White’s rib injury sped up the timeline. Now, the 7-6 Jets need Wilson to lead their run to the playoffs — starting Sunday at MetLife Stadium against the red-hot Lions, who have won five of their past six games. 

“I’m ready to go,” Wilson said Friday. “I feel like these past three weeks, whatever it’s been, I’ve just been trying to keep improving and getting better and taking each day with the mentality that I was playing.” 

The Jets went 5-2 with Wilson as their starting quarterback this season before coach Robert Saleh benched him, so they can win with Wilson under center. The QB said his time away from the starting job has helped him rediscover the fun in playing football, and he believes he will be able to play looser now. 

“The worst has already happened, right, for me personally,” Wilson said. “I’m going to go out there and just have fun. I’m going to go out and whatever happens, happens. I’m going to go out there and lay it out there and do whatever is best for this team. That’s not in my control if they want to make that change down the road or whatever. I’m going to go out there and play the best that I can and put this team in the position that is best for the team.” 

The Jets need to start winning games again after losing three of their past four. They are currently outside the playoffs looking in. 

“The best way to get into the playoffs at this point is to win every game,” cornerback Michael Carter II said. “We don’t want to have to depend on sitting by the TV every single week after our game or looking at the score and just hoping this team lost or this team beat this team. We want to be able to control our own fate.”