Buffalo might have won this game, but Mike White just showed he is the QB for the future of this team. The Buffalo Bills outlasted the New York Jets 20-12 in a cold, rainy, game that featured massive hits, bone crushing tackles, and the birth of a new QB in New York.
This is Mike White’s team…period. The grit, determination, fight, and resolution the former 5th round pick showed today demonstrated why he not only is a better quarterback than Zach Wilson, but also why his teammates love him far more than they ever did with the 2nd overall pick.
Simply put, Mike White is willing to sit in the pocket and get ABSOULTETLY ROCKED on every single play in order to make a throw, which was something that happened a lot today and a rarity with Zach Wilson.
I’m not sure if Mike White ding-dong ditched Matt Milano (9 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 PD, 1 QB hit), AJ Epenesa (5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 1 QB hit), Ed Oliver (4 tackles, 1 QB hit), and Greg Rousseau (2 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 2 QB hits) when he was younger or egged their houses, but whatever he did, those guys were trying to kill the poor guy. Literally.
They unleashed some devastating hits upon White pretty much from the kickoff, with two hits being so brutal that they knocked White out of the game for a few snaps. There was one hit that Matt Milano laid on White that crunched the QB’s body in half so badly that I thought he broke every rib in White’s body. Thankfully, he didn’t, and White came back into the game only a few plays later, but it was still a monster hit to watch.
The rainy, windy Buffalo weather must have brought out the worst machinations in that Bills defense as they finished the game with 74 tackles, 4 sacks, 7 TFL, 7 PD, and 8 QB hits. Yeah, they got to White eleven times and the QB still kept coming back into the game.
And he didn’t just “come back into the game” as he played really well while he was out there.
Completing 27/44 passes for 268 yards, White was able to sling the ball in the tough Buffalo weather and defense, hooking up with Garrett Wilson (6 REC, 78 yards), Elijah Moore (6 REC, 60 yards), and Corey Davis (1 REC, 15 yards) as he kept the Jets in the game despite never scoring a TD.
If you want to knock off a few points from White’s performance, that’d be the category to do so as he was unable to push the ball into the endzone against a semi-injured Buffalo defense with the Jets only scoring four field goal.
But I’m still going to give White a grace period as he not only was facing off against one of the best defenses, one that was constantly dropping him with brutal hits, in dreadful weather, but he also lost Corey Davis (his best receiver) early on in the game due to injury.
Plus, the Jets running game wasn’t anything to brag about as Zonovan Knight only had 71 yards on 17 carries, which was a big part as to why the Bills were able to zone in on White and the Jets passing game.
Mike White played about as well as any Jets QB in similar circumstance in the past twenty years, and that’s something to be proud of.
As for Josh Allen and the Bills offense, they finally shook off their turnover bug…at the expense of running an explosive offense.
With Josh Allen only finishing the game with 16/27 completions for 147 yards and 1 TD, Steffon Diggs (3 REC, 37 yards) having less than 40 receiving yards, Allen (10 CAR, 47 yards, 1 TD) once again ending up as the Bills leading rusher, and Dawson Knox (4 REC, 41 yards, 1 TD) dropping some huge passes that would have clinched the game sooner, the Bills had one of their worst performances of the season.
Just like I did with the Jets and White, I’ll chock this bad performance down to the weather troubles and a great defensive performance by players like CJ Mosely (9 tackles, 1 PD), Quinnen WIlliams (6 tackles), Sauce Garnder (4 tackles, 1 PD), and the rest of the Jets defense. The Bills ended up getting the job done, which has all but sealed their place in the playoffs.
I don’t see the Dolphins being able to win enough games to overtake the Bills (10-3) at this point in the season, which would mean that Buffalo is set to win their third straight AFC East title and potentially the AFC Crown with the best record in the conference.
As for the Jets (7-6), it’s going to be a dogfight between them, the Patriots, and the Chargers for the 7th and final Wild Card spot. I’d have to tip them into getting that final spot as of this moment, though the inner Pats fan in my is hoping that New England can kick Matt Patricia and Joe Judge out the back door and let Mac Jones rid them into that final spot.
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