It took two weeks and three starts for Mike White’s Jets life to go from a dream start to a nightmare ending, one that kept getting worse as it went on.
If his first start against the Cincinnati Bengals brought Jets fans hope, his second against the Buffalo Bills reminded them what team they’re rooting for, those Same Old Jets coming back right on cue.
White threw four interceptions and no touchdowns in a 45-10 beatdown at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, all but ending the short-lived Mike White era in Florham Park.
White said it was “very tough” to go through it, but he has not allowed himself think ahead just yet.
“My thoughts are solely on what happened (on Sunday) and what needs to get done to get better from it,” he said.
We’ll do it for him.
All signs point to White returning to where he began the season -- on the bench backing up rookie Zach Wilson -- by next Sunday. The No. 2 overall pick missed the Jets’ last three games with a sprained PCL, but he was a full participant in practice on Friday and went through a “pretty hard” workout on Sunday morning, according to head coach Robert Saleh. The injury was listed as a two-to-four week deal, with next Sunday’s meeting with the Miami Dolphins circled as a likely return, and the recovery appears to be on track.
Will Wilson start that game if he is indeed healthy?
Saleh pushed back his answer for a day.
“We’ll see with all the injuries and let that sort out. We’ll have a better idea (Monday) afternoon,” he said. “(Zach is) still dealing with stuff. I know we worked him out pretty hard this morning so we’ll see how that went. He’s getting better every day so we’ll see how he is from an injury standpoint before we make any decisions.”
White was asked how he would feel if that’s how things ended up.
“I’ll support him just like I did the first couple weeks of the season,” he said. “I want to see him do well. He’s a good kid and he works his butt off. He’s been working his butt off in his rehab and staying engaged and coming to meetings and staying engaged on the field when he wasn’t able to practice. Whatever my job is, I’m going to do that to the best of my ability.”
It is hard to envision a scenario where White starts for the Jets again this season other than injury sweeping through the quarterback room. He is closer to competing for the backup spot with Joe Flacco, the quarterback the Jets brought in to fill in for Wilson before White’s emergence changed their plans, than against Wilson for the starting position at this point.
Flacco, by the way, went 3-for-3 for 47 yards and a touchdown in mop-up duty on Sunday after White exited the game with an injury (no worries there; White was cleared to return during the game but the Jets never got the ball back).
Sunday’s performance will prove a difficult hurdle for White to overcome.
Let’s get the caveats out of the way, because in fairness, White had a lot going against him on Sunday:
- Buffalo entered the day with the NFL’s top defense, leading the league in passing touchdowns allowed (5), passing yards allowed per attempt (5.6), ranking second in completion percentage allowed (57.9%) and tied for third in interceptions (11). The majority of the group has played together for multiple seasons under fifth-year defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, so the chemistry is in place. That’s where White’s struggles begin, Saleh said.
“Give those guys credit,” he said. “They’re the number one defense in football, a championship caliber football team. Give them credit. It starts from there, really.”
- White got little help from his teammates. His wide receivers dropped multiple passes, with top target Corey Davis wasting a key 28-yard gain late in the first half by fumbling it while trying to gain more yards, turning a potential last-second score before the break into one of the Jets’ five turnovers. White was barraged with pressure from the Bills’ defensive front all day long, which caused his first interception and forced him to exit the game late in the fourth quarter after getting body slammed. And his defense did him no favors with their latest humiliating outing.
All of that said, it was still a putrid performance from White.
He threw an interception on three consecutive drives to open the third quarter, turning an already lopsided game into a full-blown beatdown. He admitted to letting the score dictate his decision making by tempting him to make heroic efforts to bring the Jets back into the game (sound familiar?).
White cites his first second-half interception, a deep pass to wide receiver Elijah Moore that was easily picked off by Tre’Davious White, as the one that bothered him the most, but all three of them were equally bad.
“It gets tough in this league when you have to become one-dimensional and I think a lot of that is my decision making,” White said. “I need to be able to not get so aggressive and think we can score it all back with the deep throw to Elijah. As the quarterback in this system, it’s on you to be the decision maker and be the cool, calm, collected guy and I think i just got too aggressive on a couple of plays.”
To his credit, White did not use any of the available excuses for his poor performance. He pinned the blame on himself.
“It falls on me,” White said.
And he will fall on the depth chart because of it.
White was on a short leash entering this game with Wilson in the wings, and after playing about as poorly as possible, it would be a surprise if he isn’t yanked back to the bench. The Jets, now 2-7, have nothing left to play for this season. It is now -- and really, a brief flirtation with success under White aside, always has been -- about molding Wilson into a franchise quarterback.
So say goodbye to the Mike White era (October 31, 2021-November 14, 2021). We hardly knew ye.
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
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