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#Jets QB Mike White lifts mood of wide receivers, fans

“Jets QB Mike White lifts mood of wide receivers, fans”

As the saying goes, the most popular player in football is the backup quarterback.

Reintroduce yourself to Mike White, who, even though he is starting, is a backup quarterback at heart.

White is an underdog story, a fifth-round pick in 2018 who was fortunate to go that high. The Jets’ latest quarterback hope once transferred out of South Florida because he was losing his starting job.

White is a battler, going three and a half years in the NFL without playing a snap, biding his time and trying to impress at practice and during the preseason.

White is, by all accounts, a great teammate. Teammates notice that a backup puts in the work and hope it eventually gets rewarded.

Jets quarterback Mike White celebrates as he leaves the field after the Jets defeated the Chicago Bears 31-10 in East Rutherford, NJ.
Jets interim quarterback Mike White walks off the field victorious.
Bill Kostroun

“That’s Mike f–king White,” running back Ty Johnson said last year after White’s first career start, when White was unknown outside the team but popular inside. “He’s a savage. He’s a dog. He’s an animal.”

White is, at least at the moment, the starting quarterback of an AFC playoff contender and maybe the least-booable player in New York sports.

White’s name was the soundtrack of Sunday’s 31-10 win over the Bears at MetLife Stadium, where the Jets improved to 7-4 behind a quarterback who didn’t do anything spectacular but did everything that was asked of him.

The Jets, who say publicly they are sitting or “resetting” Zach Wilson (and not benching him, which is a significant delineation), wanted White to make the right — read: easy — plays. He did so during an afternoon in which he went 22-of-28 and threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns. Wilson has thrown for four touchdowns all season.

It was how White thrived, though, that showed the difference between the overlooked backup and the No. 2 overall pick. White took what the Bears gave him — which, to be fair, which was quite a lot — and squeezed his throws into short, tight windows. According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, White’s throws averaged just 5.8 yards through the air, which ranked 25th out of 30 quarterbacks in Week 12 going into Monday night. Only Justin Herbert, Kyle Allen, Marcus Mariota, Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins averaged shorter throws.

“[White] made the easy look easy,” head coach Robert Saleh told reporters.

Mike White #5 of the New York Jets celebrates a touchdown pass with Garrett Wilson #17 of the New York Jets in the third quarter of a game against the Chicago Bears at MetLife Stadium on November 27, 2022.
Mike White celebrates with Garrett Wilson after throwing a touchdown pass in the third quarter.
Getty Images

White, who did not turn the ball over, allowed his receivers — and 10 different players caught passes — to be the best players on the field, which can be a Jets strength. Their receiving room includes two first-round draft picks (Garrett Wilson and Corey Davis) and two second-rounders (Elijah Moore and Denzel Mims).

And as elated as Jets fans are with their cult hero at quarterback, White’s receivers have to be happier.

This was Garrett Wilson after last week’s loss to the Patriots, in which he caught two passes for 12 yards: “This s–t’s sorry. We’re out here looking sorry, man. We know that we’re not sorry. So that’s why it really hurts.”

And on Sunday, after catching five passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns, Wilson smiled when asked about the loud “Mike White” chants: “I’m glad the fans saw what we all saw. He’s going out there balling, and he deserved every bit of it.”

Moore requested a trade after six quiet games, culminating with a one-catch, 11-yard performance in a win over the Dolphins in which he disappeared. Mims had previously asked out while Zach Wilson was at the helm.

New York Jets wide receiver Elijah Moore (8) gains yards after the catch during the first half against the Chicago Bears at MetLife Stadium.
Elijah Moore rhapsodized about being reunited with the football after having a productive day catching passes from Mike White.
USA TODAY Sports

White found Moore twice for 64 yards, including a 42-yard hookup that turned a seven-point lead into a 14-point game in the third quarter.

“I missed it,” Moore said about the ball. “I was talking to it yesterday … and I was like, ‘Damn, you already know how I feel about you.’ I was kissing her and telling her it was going to happen soon.”

The Jets turned to White after Wilson did not perform on the field and did not help himself off of it, declining to take his share of responsibility for the loss against the Patriots. There had to be concerns among the coaching staff whether Wilson still had the backing of the locker room.

After a game in which he finished with a 149.3 rating, White made sure to salute the suddenly happy receivers who finally could do what they love: touch a ball they had been snuggling with.

“It’s just distributing the ball and letting them be who they are,” White said.

Mike White #5 of the New York Jets looks to pass in the first half of a game against the Chicago Bears at MetLife Stadium on November 27, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Mike White completed 22 of 28 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns.
Getty Images

Everyone associated with the Jets, from fans to players to coaches to executives, could smile after smoking the 3-9 Bears, who apparently left any semblance of their pass rush in Chicago. Next week the Jets will visit the 9-2 Vikings before a December showdown in Buffalo.

Maybe White will be a one-week wonder — as he essentially was last year, when he lit up the Bengals before a right forearm injury and ineffectiveness cleared the way for Wilson to retake the job.

A demotion would bring him from popular starter to popular backup.

“I’m sure that his teammates are rallying around him,” Jeff Brohm, who coached White at Western Kentucky and now is the head coach of Purdue, told Post Sports+ last week. “And I’m sure he will be a great teammate whether he starts more or whether he has to be the backup to whoever’s in there. That’s just the type of person he is.”

The type whose internal and external popularity seems sustainable, even if his job will prove harder to hold on to.

Today’s back page

The back cover of the New York Post on November 28, 2022.
New York Post

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Can Joe Harris be the next Nets revival?

Seth Curry finding his health and jump shot would be a crucial development for the Nets. It would help them win more games like Sunday’s, of course, but also it also may be beneficial for Joe Harris to see that, with time, a stroke can return after ankle surgery.

Curry, who has had his appearances managed and whose shot has been awry, exploded for 29 points — his most since joining the Nets — in a 111-97 victory over the Trail Blazers at Barclays Center.

Seth Curry #30 of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket during the game against the Portland Trail Blazers on November 27, 2022.
Seth Curry broke out with a 29-point afternoon in a Nets win.
NBAE via Getty Images

The shooting guard went 11-of-15 from the field and 7-of-10 from beyond the arc, taking advantage of the looks that come with playing alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Curry entered shooting 42.7 percent from the floor, down from a career mark of 47.5 percent. His 3-point percentage of 38.3 percent was way off his career mark of 43.8 percent. It took Ben Simmons about a month of playing before he looked like himself again. Maybe after about six weeks, Curry, who underwent offseason arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle, has turned a corner, too. Curry still has not played both ends of a back-to-back all season, though he said he hopes can end that trend Monday against the Magic.

Will it click for Harris? Through 19 games, the 31-year-old sharpshooter and longest-tenured Net has lost what made him so valuable. His shooting problem has gotten worse as he has drilled just three of his past 22 attempts from behind the arc. His playing time has begun to dip, and that time could further dwindle when Yuta Watanabe returns. A shooter who cannot shoot is not playable.

Brooklyn Nets forward Joe Harris (12) celebrates a three point shot with Nic Claxton and Kevin Durant (7) in the second half against the Portland Trail Blazers at Barclays Center, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022.
Joe Harris is in a prolonged shooting slump after missing most of last season due to an ankle injury.
Corey Sipkin

Harris, whose left ankle went under the knife twice last season, the second a ligament reconstruction surgery in March, could be a significant piece for a title contender if he finds his shot and the Nets tap into their potential. Maybe Curry coming around after ankle surgery can remind Harris that rhythms and health can take time.

Flag furor at the World Cup

The intrigue that surrounds the World Cup is rivaled in the sports world only by the Olympics. Both bring athletes to the forefront while all of the political and societal differences exist in the background, never too far away.

Ahead of the USA’s critical showdown with Iran on Tuesday, the US Soccer Federation brought one of those issues to the forefront.

US Soccer’s official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts posted graphics Saturday that showed Group B’s standings — and notably did not show the official flag of Iran. The flag had been altered to remove the crest of the Islamic Republic in the middle.

The USMNT social media accounts posted the Group B World Cup standings featuring an Iranian flag without the Islamic Republic emblem. The posts were later deleted.
The USMNT social media accounts posted the Group B World Cup standings featuring an altered version of Iran’s flag without the Islamic Republic emblem.
Twitter/@USMNT

US Soccer media officer Michael Kammarman told reporters Sunday the group intended to “show support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights.” A few Team USA players said they were not consulted on the decision.

The social-media posts were deleted, and by Sunday afternoon, US Soccer used the normal Iranian flag with the emblem in social media posts.

The Iranian football federation reportedly will lodge a complaint with FIFA.

Weston McKennie of the U.S. and teammates during training in Qatar on November 27, 2022.
Weston McKennie (front left), Antonee Robinson (front right) and the US face Iran in a must-win World Cup encounter on Tuesday.
REUTERS

“By posting a distorted image of the flag of the Islamic Republic of #Iran on its official account, the #US football team breached the @FIFAcom charter, for which a 10-game suspension is the appropriate penalty,” Tasnim news agency, Iran state-aligned media, wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Team #USA should be kicked out of the #WorldCup2022.”

US Soccer’s small but loud demonstration follows widespread protests in Iran over the September death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who had been detained by the country’s morality police for not wearing the hijab. Eyewitnesses claim she was beaten to death, which Iran denies.

Bloody protests have followed. According to Iran Human Rights, a human rights organization based in Norway, “At least 416 people, including 51 children and 27 women, have been killed by security forces in the ongoing nationwide protests.”

USA and Iran will play Tuesday at 2 p.m., and the Americans need to win to advance to the Round of 16.

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