The Jets’ answer to repair their stagnant offense and save their sinking season threw 12 touchdowns and 26 interceptions in college, hasn’t won a game as an NFL starter and has appeared in games for 4 teams across five seasons.
But Monday, when Robert Saleh called him a couple of quarterback change, Tim Boyle became the one tasked with guiding the Jets on Friday against the Dolphins.
Perhaps for the remainder of the season, too. Zach Wilson was demoted to the third-string quarterback.
Trevor Siemian was signed off the practice squad to turn into the brand new backup.
And that meant Boyle had been promoted to the highest of the depth chart.
It’s a unique scenario from when he began 3 times in 2021 with the Lions, filling in for an injured Jared Goff.
The keys to the Jets’ offense may very well be his until his performance dictates otherwise.
With the team slipping away from postseason contention and fading toward one other disappointing season, it’ll depend on Boyle — a self-described decisive quarterback who considers himself a unique player from his last starts — to ignite their offense under coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who coached him for 2 seasons in Green Bay and tried to recruit him to Syracuse.
“I’m right where I must be at once,” Boyle said. “I feel in myself, and other teams have believed in me and that’s truthfully all that matters. Accountability is primary at quarterback, and I didn’t play well in college, but here I’m 12 months 6 within the NFL. I feel like I even have enough.”
Boyle knows the underwhelming college numbers are “up to now,” he said Tuesday.
The winless record and spotty NFL stats, too.
He thinks that he could make all of the throws for the Jets, get the ball to their skill-position players quickly and let the remainder fall into place.
The whole lot needed to be assembled during a brief week, too. Boyle admitted that he doesn’t have a ton of reps with top wideout Garrett Wilson.
He’ll attempt to avoid sacks, get the ball out quickly, lead drives into the red zone after which rating points.
The Jets’ offense has struggled with all of that through 10 games.
Boyle understands that, most of all, he must imagine that he might be the one which fixes this broken offense, even when the numbers or others dictate otherwise.
He has to feel “dangerous on the market,” he said.
He has to keep on with his strengths, and let those open windows for the wideouts and running backs to achieve yards.
By the point Boyle’s first start in 2021 had ended, he knew the first element of his skill set would revolve around quick decision-making.
Sure, the winless Lions had lost to the Browns. Sure, Boyle had thrown two interceptions and couldn’t top 100 passing yards.
But Cleveland — with Jadeveon Clowney and Myles Garrett on its line of defense — hadn’t recorded a sack, and his quick timing within the pocket had at the very least given plays a likelihood.
“Putting myself within the shoes of an offensive lineman, I don’t think there’s anything worse than a quarterback hanging onto the ball,” Boyle said. “I believe that’s one thing that frustrates edge rushers as well, they will’t get home since the ball is out.”
In those starts, though, Boyle didn’t feel like himself.
He handled a thumb injury and wasn’t the identical.
He thought there was more room to grow, and last season, he took a step back while splitting time on the practice squad with the Lions and Bears to dissect protections and routes.
That helped make pre-snap directions clearer.
“I felt like I used to be healthy enough to play, but truthfully, I don’t feel like I used to be confident enough, like that dangerous feeling I used to be talking about earlier,” Boyle said.
A situation like this isn’t latest to Boyle, either.
During his third and final season at Connecticut, Boyle sat behind Bryant Shirreffs on the depth chart.
The Huskies had gone 2-10 the 12 months before, with Boyle playing in nine games and starting the ultimate three.
That modified in 2015, until Shirreffs got injured against No. 13 Houston.
Boyle entered, accomplished 12 of twenty-two passes for 110 yards and helped start a trick play — tossing the ball to the Connecticut running back, who threw a 45-yard touchdown pass — that ended with the game-winning rating to make the Huskies eligible for a bowl game.
“He stayed ready,” then-UConn head coach and current LSU assistant Bob Diaco told The Post. “He stayed vigilant. He stayed positive.”
Relating to taking up in dire situations, Boyle has “been there, done that,” Diaco said.
The Jets’ season, teetering getting ready to a disaster, hinges on him thriving in those spots again.