‘ABSOLUTE WARRIOR’
White continues to win over locker room as he keeps fighting despite hit after hit
ORCHARD PARK — This was before Mike White was put into an ambulance and taken to an area hospital. Left tackle Duane Brown made it his business to seek out his quarterback in the locker room minutes after the Jets were beaten by the Bills, 20-12, on Sunday at Highmark Stadium, where White was punished by the Buffalo defense the way Mike Tyson used to punish opposing fighters with a barrage of body blows.
“I just told him I appreciate him,’’ Brown said.
Brown first told White that in the huddle when he returned in the fourth quarter after being taken to the locker room for X-rays following a knif- ing blow to his ribs by Bills linebacker Matt Milano that looked like it was going to snap him in half at the midsection.
Brown then told that to White again in the quiet of the losing locker room after the game.
So did center Connor McGovern.
“I told him I love him and I appreciate him,’’ McGovern told The Post.
“You’re a warrior,’’ Braxton Berrios, one of White’s closest friends on the team, told him at his locker with the ambulance waiting outside.
“That’s the first thing I did when I came in — I found him and I told him what I wanted to tell him, because he battled, man,’’ Berrios told The Post.
White, who completed 27 of 44 passes for 268 yards and didn’t turn the ball over despite being pressured 20 times and hit seven times, wasn’t available to speak to reporters because he was taken to the hospital as a precaution to have his ribs checked out before the team flew back to New Jersey.
White, who began the season as the Jets’ third-string quarterback living a life of obscurity running the scout team before he was anointed the starter two weeks ago with Zach Wilson bottoming out, was already the most popular person inside the Jets locker room.
Even before what went down Sunday in the snowy, rainy chill of Western New York, White would have won a popularity contest among his teammates in a landslide.
But this … this will only serve to galvanize the legend of Mike White to his teammates.
“He’s a f--king soldier,’’ running back Michael Carter said. “No disrespect to Zach [Wilson] or Joe [Flacco], but it’s really cool to play with him. I love him.’’
White should have been knocked out of this game twice.
With 6:36 remaining in the first half, Buffalo defensive tackle Ed Oliver tattooed his No. 91 on White’s chest with a bone-crunching hit that left White on the frozen turf writhing in pain. That injury came as White stood in the pocket long enough to complete a 24-yard pass to Elijah Moore.
Veteran backup Joe Flacco replaced him for two plays and White returned.
Then, with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter, it was Milano coming at White — airborne like a missile. White again grimaced and lay on the ground for several minutes while Jets medical staff tended to him before he finally got up and was walked gingerly to the locker room for X-rays on his aching ribs.
With 12:23 remaining in the game and the Jets trailing 20-7, White again returned to the huddle, stunning teammates.
“I thought he was going to be done after the second hit,’’ Brown said.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh said White on Sunday “showed everybody else what we already knew in regard to how tough he is,’’ adding, “I thought he showed resolve, toughness, everything we’ve been seeing. He’s a good player. He’s tough.’’
McGovern called White “the epitome of what hopefully everyone in this locker room is willing to do to win.’’
“If he’s able to walk, run or throw the ball he’s going to be out there and that’s just a testament to his courage and his mindset, that’s just who he is,’’ linebacker C.J. Mosley said.
“He’s an absolute warrior. We’ve all known that and he obviously displayed it to the world today,’’ Berrios said.
“He showed resilience and strength, but the best thing is: That’s him every day of the week,’’ safety Will Parks said. “That’s my quarterback.’’