Jets: Week 8 Recap

Two words. Mike. White. This matchup, the Jets faced what was supposed to be a blowout in favor of the Bengals due to starting QB and WR (Zach Wilson and Corey Davis) out with injuries; however, these projections couldn’t be more wrong. The Jets won a football game. And no, this is not a drill. With their backup quarterback in the game against the number one team in the AFC record-wise, the Jets pulled off the impossible. Our backup quarterback Mike White, who hasn’t started a single NFL game before this, comes in and absolutely balls out. White, who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, landed with the Jets back in 2019, and was just a backup for the large majority of his brief three-year career. When he got the start this week, most Jets fans like myself were just waiting to get absolutely destroyed. (For example I started Bengals defense against the Jets in my fantasy league because I was certain that they would drop 20 points for me.) Unbelievably, Mike White put a stop to that, passing for 405 yards (the 2nd QB in NFL history to throw over 400 yards in first career start), 37-45 completions, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. Mike White wasn’t the only player who showed up this past Sunday. Michael Carter also played extremely well, rushing for 77 yards and a touchdown, and also catching 9 passes for 95 yards. However, it wasn’t the easiest game for us, only winning by three points, 34-31, which also gave us the best comeback of this season. The Jets were the first team this season to be down by double digits with 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter and still win. This was one of the best Jets games in the past decade; the adversity this team faced being down their two most important offensive players and still coming down with the win is absolutely insane. My only worry about this team is consistency. There are lots of questions going into week 9, where we have the Thursday primetime game. Will Mike White continue where he left off? How will the defense fare against a solid Colts offense? And probably the biggest of them all, if Mike White continues to play at this rate, Mike White or Zach Wilson? Our upcoming schedule is not difficult whatsoever, playing teams like the Dolphins,(twice), Jaguars, Texans, and Saints (who just lost their starting quarterback). The Jets could bounce back with this schedule, but also have to get by teams like the Bills (twice) and the Buccaneers. It will be a test for this young team and first year head coach, but I could see a second half of the season stretch the way they played on Sunday. All and all, we will see how this team will fare under the primetime lights of Thursday Night Football.