Could the Jets have an unexpected quarterback conundrum on their hands?
Mike White sent shockwaves through the NFL with his 405-yard, three-touchdown performance against the Bengals on Sunday afternoon. White was just the second player since 1950 to throw for over 400 yards in his first career start — the other being ex-MVP Cam Newton — and was the first Jets quarterback to eclipse 400 yards since Vinny Testaverde.
Oh, and he did enough to lead New York to a stunning upset of a Cincinnati team that entered riding high after a statement win over the Ravens the previous weekend.
White was viewed as a replacement until the injured Zach Wilson was healthy enough to return to the field or the recently-acquired Joe Flacco could learn the playbook. Now, White is locked in as New York’s starting quarterback for its upcoming Thursday Night Football matchup with the Colts and possibly beyond.
Does beyond mean even after Wilson is ready to suit up again? Robert Saleh said that “anything is possible” regarding the Jets’ quarterback situation postgame and continued to have fun with the hypothetical when the subject was brought up again on Monday.
“I could be the next Vince Lombardi,” Saleh said. “The reality is, Mike played a really good game, we got a really short turnaround, we gotta get ourselves going. And the whole hypothetical thing… the focus is on this moment. Zach getting healthy is always at the forefront of our minds.
“But again, at the same time, guys, it’s a hypothetical. You just take the days as they come. That’d be the best thing I can answer. If everything goes according to plan and Zach comes back and he’s healthy, we’ll address it when we cross that bridge.”
The NFL is the league of opportunity. Tom Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe and never looked back on his still-active journey to becoming arguably the league’s greatest player of all time. That’s not to say White is the next Brady, but he showed Sunday that he has the talent to potentially succeed as a starting quarterback in the professional ranks.
Logic dictates that if White is ever going to get the chance to take over a team, it won’t be with the Jets. New York has a ton invested in Wilson — both on the field and financially — and it is not going to give up on him just because White caught lightning in a bottle.
Logic sometimes flies out the window in the NFL, though. The unexpected sometimes becomes the expected and if — and it is a big if — White continues to play well with Wilson injured, the expectation might become that he is good enough to be the Jets’ quarterback of the present and the future.
Saleh isn’t going to spend too much time entertaining that thought in the coming days, though.
“That’s for you guys to talk about, to be honest with you,” Saleh said. “I know exactly how we’ll operate. I know exactly what we’re looking for and if it’s something that you guys want to play with and have fun with, I mean, it doesn’t surprise me, but have fun.”
[listicle id=670300]