It’s Mike White Season Again

In a post-Christmas miracle, the Jets' lord and savior has been reborn as the starting quarterback: Yes, Mike White is back and ready for action.

Look, no one is saying Mike White is good, all right? No one is saying that. But in his 1-2 stint as starter after replacing a truly terrible Zach Wilson, he put up mostly respectable numbers, kept his team in games, and let the Jets' defense catch its breath: all improvements over his predecessor. He also never looked totally outmatched, nor declined to take responsibility for his mistakes. These Jets have a good enough defense, and enough skill position talent on offense, that if they just had a normal, semi-competent QB, they could be a playoff team. White offers at least the promise of that.

So it was a real blow to the Jets' playoff hopes when White suffered fractured ribs two weeks ago after getting folded up like a flip phone. Wilson's unceremonious return to the starting job resulted in an up-and-down performance in a close loss to the Lions and a putrid showing against the Jags that got him benched for Chris Streveler.

But now White is back, and if the Jets don't quite control their own destiny, their shot at a postseason berth isn't so far outside. They have to win out, at Seattle and at Miami, and they need to Patriots to lose one game, against the Dolphins or at the Bills. It could happen! It seems more likely to happen now than it did an hour ago.

And what of Zach Wilson, who might now be as low as fourth on the Jets' depth chart, behind White and Winnipeg Blue Bombers legend Streveler, and depending on how 57-year-old Joe Flacco is holding up?

That sounds like a threat.