We know Boomer & Gio have been on the Mike White train for a while, even with Gio’s Vikings one of the games White got to start for the Jets, so it should be no surprise they were showing No. 5 some love Monday after he was knocked out of Sunday’s game not once, but twice.
“I’ve always had respect for these guys, but I have a newfound respect for Mike White,” Boomer said. “I think Tony Romo on CBS said it best: this is his life, his career, and he knows that he has to get back out there and make himself available, because what happened to him last year has almost happened to him again this year.”
“That’s what I was thinking, that he was saying to himself it wasn’t going to happen again, where he gets the opportunity and gets hurt and gets replaced again,” Gio said. “I don’t care if I have 15 – I don’t know how many ribs you have, but 15 broken ribs, I’m going back out there and playing, because it’s that important to me.”
Gio also said the real question was “how long Mike White could play at a high level and whether he could go through the rigors of an NFL season week in and week out,” and given how White said he felt later Monday, apparently, the answers are “as long as he can” and “yes.”
And so, the legend of Mike White grows in New York.
“His teammates love him, and the fans love him, and if this guy is healthy, there is no way the Jets are taking this guy off the field this year,” Gio said.
“Yeah, but he has to stay healthy – if the ribs aren’t broken, but the rib cartilage is damaged, that’s not an easy thing to play with,” Boomer replied. “Very few guys in the NFL aren’t playing with bumps and bruises right now, but that kid showed me a lot of chutzpah yesterday. I give him a lot of respect for coming back out on the field and playing under those circumstances.”
Boomer, being an ex-NFL QB, knows exactly what that kind of issue feels like, and knows it will be “a pain in the ass” as a lingering injury no matter how good it feels.
But, when Boomer said that “those were all legal hits” that White took, Gio wondered if there was a way White could better protect himself…because after Joe Flacco’s “performance” on Sunday, what happens if White CAN’T play?
“As I was watching him lay there, I was wondering what they would do next week,” Boomer said. “I was thinking they could sink or swim with Zach Wilson.”
And here’s where that may benefit the Jets no matter what happens.
“Being at home against the Lions and then on a short week against the Jaguars, if Zach Wilson plays well and wins those games, it calms things down a lot around here,” Boomer said before delivering the death knell of the flip side: “But, if he loses those games and he plays like crap, then I think they would understand that they have to move on from him.”
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