An Extended Williams/White Loss Would Crash Jets’ Playoff Hopes More Than Loss To Bills
The Jets season didn’t go down the tubes in Buffalo on Sunday because they fell short on the scoreboard, 20-12. There’s still a path for New York to get to ten wins, which could be enough to secure the franchise’s first playoff berth in 12 years, the NFL’s longest current drought.
However, to win three out of their remaining four games, starting with next week’s home game versus the suddenly ferocious Lions, Gang Green is going to need some help from the medical gods. So, pray for quick recoveries for Quinnen Williams and Mike White, two of New York’s most indispensable players on each side of the ball who came out of Sunday’s affair with worrisome conditions.
The tight contest turned halfway through the second quarter when Williams dropped to the turf with what seemed like a non-contact injury. Though Jets Head Coach Robert Saleh called Williams “day-to-day” with a calf injury after the game, every Jets fan has to fear that, if the initial diagnosis wasn’t an Achilles tear, it could be a precursor to one.
The loss of an interior defensive lineman playing at an All-Pro level (Williams’ two sacks increased his season total to 11, marking the first time anyone on this team reached double figures in sacks since Muhammad Wilkerson in 2015), was measurably impactful—Buffalo accumulated 61 yards of offense on four-plus possessions that all ended with punts prior to the injury and proceeded to score points on their ensuing four drives bridging the second and third quarters.
Obviously, costly mistakes (linebacker C.J. Mosley leaping offside on a 4th-and-1 that Buffalo clearly wasn’t going to snap before halftime but propelled them to score the game’s first touchdown; and backup quarterback Joe Flacco’s strip-sack fumble that set up a Bills third quarter field goal) were huge factors, but the difference in the pressure on Bills quarterback Josh Allen before and after Williams went out was glaring.
White was put under significantly more duress on Sunday, earning the utmost respect from his teammates for his ability to take beatings after getting the ball out of his hand. Unfortunately, he took a few too many in the area of the ribs and was forced to exit the contest twice. His fourth quarter reentry felt both inspirational and not very smart given New York’s pass protection issue and their 20-7 deficit.
White did lead New York into Bills territory twice in the fourth quarter, but one drive ended with a fumble by struggling running back Michael Carter and the other was terminated when Saleh elected to kick a field goal on a 4th-and-1 from Buffalo’s 9-yard line with 1:21 remaining.
Despite the slightly higher expected win percentage (1.6% versus 1.0%) had Saleh opted to go for it there, the decision didn’t matter, because after the Jets got the ball back on their 21-yard line with 46 seconds to go, White couldn’t complete a pass on his final four attempts.
After the game, the Jets sent White to a Buffalo area hospital for what Saleh called “precautionary” reasons and the New York Post’s Brian Costello reported that he made it back to catch the team plane to New Jersey. We probably won’t know until Wednesday how much the injury will affect White’s status for the crucial Lions game.
Saleh said that it’s still White’s job if healthy—considering Buffalo’s wet and wintry conditions that also sabotaged Allen, the NFL’s third-leading passer coming into the game who threw for a season-low 147 yards on Sunday, White actually wasn’t terrible. He lacks mobility and arm strength to push balls deep downfield, but he was relatively accurate (61.4% completion percentage), made a few big-time throws, and played turnover-free. The vast majority of third-and-long’s his club created were not his fault.
As such, White is still clearly preferable over deposed starter Zach Wilson, who was inactive for a third straight week. Maybe it’s time to promote Wilson to QB2 over Flacco, but the idea of either calling signals down the stretch instead of White is a scary proposition.
I wrote about the Jets’ misfortunes at the tackle position this season in Friday’s game preview (Jets’ Never-Ending Tackle Tale Features Adversity, Adaptation, and Survival (substack.com)), but the resulting issues were marginal compared to what would happen if the injuries to Williams, the Jets’ defensive MVP, and White, who has finally gotten this team to run an NFL-level offense, are out for extended periods. They’re so potentially devastating as to likely mark the end of all hope for this season.