The Jets fans were screaming the name of their team’s starting quarterback, and for once, they weren’t yelling for him to get benched or adding an adjective that rhymes with “yucks.” They were chanting it throughout the fourth quarter, and on a rainy Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, the target of their affection heard it loud and clear.
“MIKE WHITE!”
“MIKE WHITE!”
“MIKE WHITE!”
This being the Jets, though, White actually had to motion for them to pipe down so he could put the finishing touches on a 31-10 victory over the Chicago Bears. The man who started the season as the third string quarterback could only laugh.
The sentiment is nice, but please, chant responsibly.
“I’m not going to give you some quarterback cliche that I’m not focusing on that,” White said. “Toward the end of the game, though, it would be a lot cooler if they didn’t do it when we were trying to snap the ball. I’m not going to complain, because every time they are chanting, things are going right for us.”
Things were going right all day. White completed 22 of 28 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns in the victory, and given how this offense looked a week ago in New England, it felt like he had reinvented offensive football. He did nothing of the sort, of course. He just threw the ball to open receivers — which is a basic facet of quarterbacking that his predecessor failed to master.
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Zach Wilson watched from the sideline, a puffy green parka pulled over his head. His head coach, Robert Saleh, benched the former No. 2 overall draft pick after his 77-yard passing performance in a 10-3 loss to the Patriots. Saleh said this was an opportunity for Wilson to “reset himself.” He didn’t specify what, exactly, Wilson would reset as.
Perhaps a real estate agent in Provo?
Okay, that’s a cheap shot. Wilson gave a smug “no” when asked in Foxborough if he had “let the defense down” in that game, but last week, he was contrite and apologetic in the aftermath of his benching. He seemed to understand that his attitude was nearly as big a problem as his accuracy. Maybe it’ll be a moment that turns his career around.
That moment, however, cannot and will not happen anytime soon. The Jets absolutely must keep riding with White now for the rest of the season. With an elite defense that once again shut down an opponent, this Jets team needs only a game manager at quarterback to end the NFL’s longest playoff drought — and it has that in the former fifth-round pick out of Western Kentucky.
White seemed to energize this entire offense simply by doing his job. Saleh called it “mastering the obvious,” and it was clear from the opening possession — a nine-play, 75-yard drive that marked the first time the Jets opened the game with a touchdown — that he was up to the task.
“The way I approach the quarterback position is being a calming presence in the huddle, distributing the ball and letting them all be who they are,” White said. “They’re all in that locker room for a reason. This is the NFL. You’ve just got to get them the ball and get their confidence up, because when someone’s confidence up, I believe you’ll see them go to the next level.”
He completed passes to 10 different targets, even connecting with embattled receiver Elijah Moore for a 44-yard reception and a touchdown. Moore, who had requested a trade earlier in the season for not being involved in the offense, finally gave this Jets team the 1-2 receiver combo it was expecting with rookie Garrett Wilson.
This is probably a good time to pause for the obvious disclaimer. The Bears, who were missing three starting defensive backs, are terrible. White had a similarly encouraging performance a year ago, throwing for 405 yards against Cincinnati, before quickly getting benched. The next two games — at Minnesota and at Buffalo — will be a much stiffer test.
But there are reasons to believe that White won’t crash and burn this time. The Jets are much better, for starters, and Saleh can’t be in any hurry to hand the offense back to Wilson. The head coach said benching the former BYU star “is not putting a nail in his coffin” but Saleh has to know that he’ll risk losing his locker room if Wilson starts again this season.
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One week ago, Garrett Wilson called the Jets offense “unacceptable” and hinted that “some people in the facility” weren’t being held accountable for the offense’s struggles. On Sunday, he was praising White’s work ethic after catching five passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns.
“I can’t say I expected (White) to go out and have a 149 passer rating,” the former Ohio State star said. “But I expected him to come out and ball.”
Ball, he did. White’s teammates mobbed him during a live postgame interview on FOX, something they never would have done with Wilson. Later, when he was heading for the stadium exits, three fans acted like he had just given them free Super Bowl tickets when he stopped for a selfie.
The Jets have found their short-term solution at quarterback. Long-term? Check back in a couple months. Mike White has earned the right to lead this team as it tries to reach the playoffs. Fans, please chant his name responsibly.
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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com.
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