South Florida and Western Kentucky quarterback Mike White was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft by the Cowboys, and before Sunday’s game against the Bengals, he’d never had an NFL start. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 202 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions against the Patriots last week after Zach Wilson suffered a strained PCL, and through the Jets traded for Joe Flacco this past week, the decision was to make White the starter against the Bengals — the AFC’s one-seed.
Though it had all the earmarks of a Bengals thrashing of the Jets, White proved to be an amazing out-of-nowhere story, as the Jets came back from 17-7 and 31-20 deficits to beat Cincinnati 34-31, raising their record to 2-5 on the season, and dropping the Bengals to 5-3.
White finished his day completing 37 of 45 passes for 405 yards, three touchdowns, and two interception, making him the second quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 400 yards in his first start. The first was Cam Newton, who threw for 422 yards against the Cardinals in his first start, and then turned around and threw for 432 yards against the Packers the next week.
This 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Kroft was quite impressive…
Build the Mike White statue ASAP @nyjets
pic.twitter.com/GYbugcU1Xw— PFF (@PFF) October 31, 2021
…proving that you just never know what will happen on any given Sunday.