New York Jets quarterback Mike White revealed Friday he has five fractured ribs, up from the three he was originally thought to have.
White said the doctors believed one of the ribs was from an old injury. “So, there was technically a total of five, but they said one looked like an old one, which I don’t understand that, but they’re smarter than me, so yeah, a total of five I guess you could say,” he said.
White took a hit at the end of the first half against the Seahawks, which may have led to more of an injury and White would feel discomfort throughout the week, leading to him being downgraded from full to limited practice on Thursday and ultimately being ruled out Friday. Joe Flacco will start for the Jets against the Dolphins on Sunday with Zach Wilson as the backup.
“I mean at the time in the game, like yeah, I could feel it, but again, like I told you guys after Seattle, I’m not going to lean on that as an excuse,” White said. “Like I told you guys, everyone in this locker room deserves a certain standard of quarterback play, and just got to be better, got to be better for my teammates and learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, but yeah, I think waking up on Monday, day after the game, that’s when I was like ‘Oh, okay this feels different,’ rested on Monday, rested on Tuesday, Wednesday was a walkthrough, so I was like alright, let me get moving, kind of toss the ball around, see how it feels.”
White added: “Didn’t feel the greatest, but it was a walkthrough, so I was able to get through the practice, and then yesterday having a full practice, went out there and threw and just said yeah, just can’t do what I want to be able to do out there with it and guys don’t deserve that, they deserve someone that can go out and play full, so Joe’s rolling.”
Head coach Robert Saleh shared similar thoughts and gave his explanation about White’s week, saying “So, Wednesday was a walkthrough — full practice, walkthrough, he can do all that — and he just wasn’t feeling right. His ribs, I’ll just point it out, the end of half Hail Mary sack that he took really bothered him, even going into the second half which clearly affected his ability to throw the ball as you all have seen from watching tape. He played really well in the first half and was just a little off in the second half. He’s just in a lot of pain.”
White is set to be a free agent after starting four games for the Jets this season, throwing three touchdowns and 1,192 yards, including two games with over 300 yards against the Bears and Vikings.
He said he would love to be back with the Jets next season. “I mean I love it here. I mean I love the guys, I love the staff, I love the offense. I love, I mean shoot, my kids have basically been growing up and raised in Florham Park, so I really like it here. Now whatever happens, happens, but I know that I do enjoy it here and I enjoy playing with these guys in this locker room, and I would love to be back.”
White said he has a lot of confidence in himself and believes he has shown enough to warrant a shot at being the starting quarterback. “I do have an immense amount of confidence in myself, and I do view myself as a starter in this League. Now whether that happens here or not, we’ll wait and see, that’s not up to me,” he said. “I am proud of what I’ve put on film, and I thought I did a lot of good things.”
He does think back to the Minnesota game where the Jets went 1/6 in the red zone and says “that can’t happen” and also believes the team could have scored more points against the Bills, “but overall body of work, I am proud of what I was able to accomplish.”
The Jets will have plenty of decisions to make this offseason regarding the quarterback room and with the speculation the Jets could go after a veteran quarterback, it’s fair to wonder if White’s time with the Jets will be coming to an end.