White battered, Jets slowed by snow in loss to Bills
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. >> The Jets left Highmark Stadium on Sunday with diminished playoff hopes.
That includes their starting quarterback, Mike White, who did so in an ambulance for what head coach Robert Saleh termed “precautionary” reasons after being forced to leave the contest twice in their 20-12 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
There’s no denying the latter, but Saleh doesn’t necessarily agree with the former, making as declarative a statement as he ever has about the team’s postseason hopes despite his team falling to 7-6 and perhaps into a tie for the seventh and final spot pending the results of the Chargers game on Sunday night, and New England’s on Monday, both of whom sat at 6-6 entering the day.
“We’re going to see these guys again,” he said of the Bills, who they wouldn’t see again until a potential playoff matchup.
“I just think we are. I think our team is good enough. Obviously, it’s week-to-week, but we’ve got a good football team…nothing’s guaranteed, obviously, I’ve just got so much faith in that locker room, so much faith in that coaching staff, so much faith in everybody that’s involved day-to-day. I know we’ve got four big-time opponents coming up, and we’ve got to focus on Detroit, who are playing damn good football, but I’ve just got faith in our group.”
As for White, under pressure nearly all game, he absorbed two huge shots from Buffalo linebacker Matt Milano, and was forced to return to the locker room after the second one with an injury the team reported was to his ribs, although he did return both times after backup Joe Flacco briefly replaced him.
“I thought he showed resolve, toughness, everything that we’ve been seeing,” Saleh said. “He’s a good player.”
Speaking from just outside the visiting X-Ray room in a makeshift post-game interview setup, Saleh anticipated that White would be able to rejoin the team in advance of their flight home from Buffalo, an indication that the injury wasn’t serious, although he didn’t have any further info at that time.
In his third week since taking over for Zach Wilson, White completed 27 of his 44 pass attempts for 268 yards despite miserable conditions in upstate New York, with the majority of the game being played in steady winds and light flurries. He threw no touchdowns, but also had no turnovers in what was largely a defensive struggle before the game opened up late in the first half.
Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley’s encroachment penalty finally swung the momentum in Buffalo’s direction with just 1:17 remaining in the second quarter; he jumped offsides trying to anticipate the snap on fourthand-one from Buffalo’s own 39, which extended the drive and ultimately allowed Josh Allen to connect with Dawson Knox for a 24-yard passing touchdown with just 26 seconds left in the half to open the scoring, with Mosley evidently fooled by Knox lining up under center in the sequence.
“That’s kind of the en vogue thing right now, where the quarterback looks like he doesn’t know what’s going on, and they snap the ball with somebody going in motion,” Saleh explained. “Miami got us on one, I remember that from Week (five). It was a good pre-snap play design.”
The Jets answered on the opening possession of the second half, however, capping off a ten-play, 72-yard drive with Zonovan Knight’s first career NFL touchdown from 13 yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
It was mostly all Buffalo from there out, however. The Bills got back in the lead on
the ensuing possession, with Allen’s short touchdown run making it a 14-7 contest with 7:20 left in the third quarter.
Milano delivered the second of his two uncontested shots on White on the Jets next drive, which ultimately sent the latter to the locker room in favor of Flacco, who fumbled on the very next play after being sacked by Greg Rousseau. Two Tyler Bass
field goals on Buffalo’s next possessions essentially broke the game open, although the Jets didn’t go down without a fight. Jermaine Johnson’s blocked punt resulted in a safety to cut their deficit to 20-9 with 7:30 left to play in regulation, and even after Michael Carter’s fumble on the possession after they received the free kick, they managed to keep chipping away.