New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh won’t have a better idea about his quarterbacking situation until later this week, so let the quarterback controversy continue.
For as good as Mike White was on Halloween in an upset victory over the Cincinnati Bengals — becoming the first Jets quarterback in 21 years to throw for over 400 yards in a game — he was just as putrid during Sunday’s Week 10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. White threw four interceptions in the Jets’ 45-17 loss to an angry Buffalo team that had been embarrassed in a 9-6 loss to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars just a week before.
But Saleh wasn’t ready to write off White just yet.
“I still have got a lot of confidence in Mike,” Saleh said (h/t New York Post). “Again, [the New York market] fascinates me in the sense that he was anointed the next coming after one game, and now everyone wants to throw him away. He deserves better than that.”
White has started each of the Jets’ last three games after rookie quarterback Zach Wilson went down with a sprained MCL during a Week 7 drubbing at the hands of the New England Patriots. It was the latest downturn of an unimpressive first NFL season as the No. 2 pick has completed just 57.5% of his passes for 1,168 yards with four touchdowns and nine interceptions.
White’s numbers, in some aspects, have been better than Wilson’s. His completion percentage is nine points higher while throwing for just 215 fewer yards than Wilson despite appearing in three fewer games and having that stinker against Buffalo.
“Did he play his best? No. Is he capable of playing better? Absolutely,” Saleh said of White. “[Buffalo’s] defense, give them a lot of credit. They’ve made a lot of people look really bad. And they’re pretty frickin good. They’ve been together for four years. They’re so precise in how they operate. So, credit to them. But I haven’t lost faith in Mike at all.”
Maybe that’s why Saleh isn’t ready to write White off just yet even with Wilson potentially returning to 100% health by this Sunday’s Week 11 clash with the Miami Dolphins.
“That’s a fair question,” Saleh said of who will be under center. “But I promise you I’ve been digesting so much stuff this morning that I haven’t even gotten to the quarterback part of it yet. So, I’ll have a much better idea come Wednesday.”
Granted, it all might just come down to where Wilson is health-wise.
“I’ll get a better feel… as we work into Wednesday, just to see where he is mentally and physically,” Saleh said. “I haven’t gotten a chance to get through the injury update quite yet, the full injury update with regards to Zach. I’ll have a much better idea come Wednesday.”
