It felt like New York Jets fans were living in an alternate reality this past Sunday.
Due to injury they had to trot out a relative unknown in Mike White at quarterback, they seemingly crossed their fingers and hoped for the best.
What transpired over the weekend was something that could only be found in a Hollywood script.
The only reason we know that it wasn’t all a fantasy was because of a special honor that was bestowed on Wednesday morning.
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An Honor Unlike Any Other
The NFL announced its’ player of the week honors for both the AFC and the NFC conference for each group: offense, defense, and special teams.
While it may not have been very surprising, it was certainly very surreal to see White coming home with the honor.
Here were the other winners from Week 8 across the league:
NFC
- Deebo Samuel, wide receiver, San Francisco 49ers
- Micah Parsons, linebacker, Dallas Cowboys
- Zane Gonzalez, kicker, Carolina Panthers
AFC
- White, quarterback, Jets
- Adrian Phillips, defensive back, New England Patriots
- Randy Bullock, kicker, Tennessee Titans
The veteran, which seems like a weird way to describe a 26-year-old making his first career NFL start, absolutely exploded for a historic performance.
White completed 82 percent of his passes (37-of-45) and simply took what the defense gave him. On top of being accurate, he also accumulated a ton of yards throwing for 405 passing yards. He became the second quarterback to throw for over 400 yards in his first start (joining Cam Newton).
Will We Get an Encore?
This surprising explosion caught all of us off guard and raised a question none of us thought we would consider: a quarterback controversy?
Zach Wilson is currently injured with a PCL strain and the team is hopeful he’ll be able to play vs the Buffalo Bills in Week 10.
Head coach Robert Saleh said “at the very least” he’ll be able to practice that week and said that was the major reason they didn’t place him on injured reserve, which would’ve made him ineligible to practice for Buffalo week.
White in his lone start, candidly, performed better than Wilson did in any of his prior six and a quarter games.
People have been bubbling on social media that perhaps the Jets have found their own version of Tom Brady:
- Star (or highly thought of) quarterback gets hurt vs the Patriots
- Relative unknown steps in his place
- Then said player starts popping
Where have I heard that song and dance before?
Although everyone needs to pump the brakes. Before we can have any real talk about White continuing to hold down the fort even when Wilson is healthy, we need to see an encore performance vs the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday Night Football.
As spectacular as White’s performance was vs the Cincinnati Bengals and it was, at the end of the day it was only one game. If he has half that kind of effort vs the Colts on a short week, it’s time to get crazy.
Right now what’s important is for Jets fans to enjoy this moment, there’s no guarantee how long this special ride will last, so just embrace it and buckle your seatbelt for the ride and lets see what happens.
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Jets QB Mike White Earns NFL Honor After Historic Performance