This is Mike White’s fourth season in the NFL, but he had never taken a regular season snap until he was pressed into duty in the second quarter of Sunday’s Jets loss in New England.
But, of course, that debut came in a way you never want it to: an injury ahead of you, in this case, a knee injury that knocked starter Zach Wilson out of the game and possibly for future games as well.
“First you worry about your friend on the ground and his well-being, and then you realize it’s my shot to go in there and help execute the offense,” White said. “I told myself not to do anything out of the ordinary, just play within the system, get the ball to our playmakers and go from there.”
The Jets ran a few rushing plays as White entered, as they had first-and-goal from the two yard line after the play where Wilson was hurt – but on the fourth play he was in the game, White got his first NFL passing attempt, and it was his first NFL touchdown pass, a three-yarder to Corey Davis.
“It helped me settle down a little bit, but it all happened so quickly that you get to the sideline, and we start talking about what we’re thinking,” White said. “But the more drives and completions I got, I started to settle down a little bit.”
White finished 20 of 32 for 202 yards with that one TD and two interceptions, and as Wilson has all season, noted there’s some positives to build on but plenty of negatives to correct going forward.
“I think there’s things to build on. We did some good things as an offense, but as in any game, there’s going to be plays you want back,” he said. “The most important thing is looking at the film and correcting those things, and not letting today beat us twice.”
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One person White did credit with helping him settle down is Josh Johnson, who is the Jets’ third quarterback on the practice squad.
“Josh has been awesome, and was awesome for me on the sideline; you look for a player’s aspect to get a different point of view on the game, and Josh was awesome,” White said. “The dynamic we have in that quarterback room, between me, Zach, Josh, (offensive assistant coach) Matt Cavanaugh, (offensive coordinator) Mike LaFleur, (quarterbacks coach) Rob Calabrese…everyone brings something different, and we work well together.”
And how did Wilson feel about White’s performance?
“Awesome,” Wilson said. “I said to him in there that it was a hard situation to step into. He hasn’t played very much or taken many reps, but I thought he came in composed and played well. He did a good job leading some drives.”
As far as the future goes, Wilson and the Jets are hopeful his knee injury are a short-term thing, but White is going to continue preparing the same way he has all season as the team awaits word on Wilson’s status.
“Zach gets the 1A reps and I get the scout team reps, so I’m still working on football mechanics, but at the end of the day, a curl is a curl and a slant is a slant,” White said. “Once we figure out what’s going on with Zach we’ll cross that bridge, but I’m confident in myself and the guys we have in that locker room to get this thing going.”
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