Mike White’s storybook run ended Sunday, and the final chapter read more like a Stephen King novel than a fairy tale.
The Jets backup-quarterback sensation crashed back to Earth on Sunday in a 45-17 loss to the Bills at MetLife Stadium. White threw four interceptions and ended any debate about who should be the starting quarterback when rookie Zach Wilson is healthy.
Three of White’s four interceptions came in the third quarter and ended any faint hope the Jets had of winning the game.
“I think it gets tough in this league when you have to become one-dimensional, and I think a lot of that is my decision-making,” White said. “I’ve got to be able to not get so aggressive and think we can score it all back in one play. … I think, it’s just on me as a quarterback — any quarterback in a system, it’s on you to be the decision-maker and be the cool, calm, collected guy. And I just think I got a little too aggressive on a couple of plays.”
This loss was not all on White, though. The Jets’ defense was atrocious again. Bills quarterback Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense looked like they could do whatever they wanted.
The Jets have now given up 45 points or more in three of their last four games. They are the first team to do that since the 1966 Giants, per ESPN. The 175 points allowed in their last four games are the second-most points given up by any team over a four-game span since 1970. Only the 2004 Titans (177 points) gave up more, per ESPN.
“Every man should be embarrassed,” defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said. “Every man should be angry. But at the end of the day, those are our brothers. That’s who we have to go to war with. No fingers are getting pointed. Every man has to look at themselves in the mirror and understand that we’ve all got to get better. There isn’t a magic formula or secret sauce. We all just have to get better.”
They can’t play much worse.
As for White, he looked nothing like the quarterback he was against the Bengals two weeks ago when he threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns. The Bills showed why they have the top-rated defense in the NFL by confusing White all day and ending his brief star turn here in New York.
“Very tough,” White said of dealing with the loss. “It’s not just me personally, but as a team and as a teammate. When guys are out there fighting their tails off for four quarters and you turn the ball over four times, it’s tough. The only thing we can do is get better from it and not let this beat us twice and get into the film room and learn from mistakes, me included and starting with me first. Being able to learn from what happened today and not let it happen again.”
The Jets kept it close in the first half and cut the score to 10-3 with 1:57 left in the second quarter and then the game got away from them in a flash.
The Bills answered that field goal with a 75-yard touchdown drive on five plays. The big play was a 57-yard pass from Allen to Stefon Diggs with Diggs running a double move to beat cornerback Brandin Echols. Diggs completed the drive with a 12-yard touchdown, beating Javelin Guidry, who had replaced an injured Echols.
That made it 17-3 with 57 seconds left in the half. The Jets had a chance to at least get a field goal before halftime but Corey Davis fumbled at the Bills’ 27 after a 28-yard reception that would have set the Jets up in field-goal range.
The Bills continued to pour it on in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns to stretch the lead to 38-3 entering the fourth quarter.
The Jets are now 2-7 with another division game coming next Sunday against the Dolphins. The division-leading Bills improved to 6-3.
Allen carved up Saleh’s defense, going 21 of 28 for 366 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Diggs had eight catches for 162 yards and the touchdown. Gabriel Davis had 105 yards receiving on three catches.
White’s first interception came after he was hit in the arm, but the other three were just poor decisions and poor throws.
“I think I let the score dictate my decision-making and that can’t happen as a quarterback,” White said. “You’ve got to be able to block that noise out and just never [be] too high, never [be] too low and execute the play call. Every play has a life of its own and once that play’s over, onto the next one, and that’s how you need to operate as a quarterback, in my opinion.”
Saleh was not prepared to say after the game whether he will go back to Wilson, who is expected to be fully healthy, next week. White left the game in the fourth quarter after landing on the ball and getting “dinged up,” according to Saleh, who added White was cleared to return to the game. Saleh said he would need to see what the health status is of the quarterbacks before making a decision.
For now, Saleh must figure out how to fix his defense or it won’t matter who is at quarterback.
“It’s not good enough. It always starts with me,” Saleh said. “We have eight games left and we have to figure it out.”
Rankins said Saleh’s postgame message was about accountability.
“The way this league works you’ve got to show up,” Rankins said. “You don’t show up, you get replaced.”