Getty Buffalo Bills and New York Jets quarterbacks Josh Allen (left) and Mike White (right) embrace before a game.
There is a lot riding on Week 14 for the New York Jets and quarterback Mike White.
With a victory, the Jets would not only sweep the current division leader Buffalo Bills, but they would also move to 8-5 rather than 7-6 with the postseason race narrowing in the AFC. As for White, the difference between conquering and succumbing to any Bills demons from 2021 could determine whether or not he starts again this year.
A tense mood would be understandable ahead of a game like this, but instead, White kept things loose and lighthearted during his December 8 press conference.
Jets QB Mike White Chooses Humor Ahead of Bills Rematch
White chose humor ahead of a crucial Bills rematch and he set the tone right out of the gate, trolling the NYC media with a hilarious response.
“How do you feel about going back into Buffalo considering what happened a year ago?” A reporter asked White — referencing his four-interception outing from 2021.
“What happened a year ago?” White replied with a face of stone. Everyone paused, and then the personable quarterback broke the silence with a laugh. “I’m messing with you,” he added, explaining why it’s a “good opportunity” and “test for the team” going forward.
“I’ve learned a lot from it, but I’ve [also] tried my best to close the book on that [game] and move on,” White stated more seriously. Later, the NYJ signal-caller admitted that the Buffalo loss from a season ago will “kind of sit with me” for a long time, noting that there are high school games he still agonizes over.
For now, White would prefer to live in the moment and have some fun.
“You can’t go in there thinking — ‘I want revenge for what happened last year’ — last year is over with,” White told reporters during another question, “it’s done with, [we’ve] gotta move on from it. It’s a different scenario, different team, and yeah, I think you can easily fall into [wanting revenge].”
If the Jets are going to beat Buffalo in their home stadium, the belief is that they’ll need more than what former starter Zach Wilson offered a few games ago. The youngster beat the Bills with a conservative stat line of 18 for 25 (154 passing yards), one touchdown, and 24 rushing yards.
More importantly, Wilson didn’t make any critical errors that game. Head coach Robert Saleh will ask White to do the same, while also providing more of a veteran presence in the pocket. With Josh Allen and the Bills chomping at the bit to get some vengeance of their own, there’s really no room for error in this one.
Elijah Moore & Michael Carter Have Fun With Mike White
Jets skill position players Elijah Moore (WR) and Michael Carter (RB) followed White’s lead during the presser, asking him to field a couple of ‘audience questions’ — or in this case, locker room questions from teammates.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini relayed photographic evidence of Moore, the reporter, who asked White about his current group of wide receivers.
Elijah Moore and, later, Michael Carter join the media scrum to ask a question to Mike White. Moore asks about the WR corps. White plays along, naming every player … kiddingly skipping Moore … throwing him in at the end. #Jets
“Right,” White answered with a straight face. “So we’ve got a really good receiver room, there’s Garrett [Wilson], there’s C.D. [Corey Davis], there’s Braxton [Berrios].” Then the QB really started to draw some laughs from the media, continuing: “There’s Diontae Spencer, there’s Irvin Charles, there’s — who else? [Tyler] Conklin! No, Conklin’s a tight end.”
Finally, White credited Moore with a point and a smirk. Carter joined the fun after that, and he wanted to know about the quarterback’s South Florida background. “Do you think there’s like a different pedigree, being from there?” The ball carrier asked.
This reply was even funnier than the first, and team reporter Caroline Hendershot shared a video of Carter’s reaction on Twitter.
The hard hitting questions in the #Jets locker room today.
Michael Carter: “What’s it like being from south Florida and do you think there’s a different pedigree being from there?”
@MikeWhiteQB: “100% now you wouldn’t understand that because you’re not from Florida.” 😂😭😭
“100%,” White responded, “now you wouldn’t understand that because you’re not from Florida.” A flabbergasted Carter — who is a proud Florida native — took a quick exit amid an explosion of laughter. One press conference, three burns. White is on fire.