White Will Need To Be More Than A Game Manager For Jets To Beat Vikings
Contrary To Popular Opinion, That Wasn't What He Was Against The Bears
There are some misconceptions when it comes to what people think the Jets need out of their quarterback as they prepare to play their most meaningful game since 2015.
When the Jets (7-4) take off for Minnesota (9-2) for Sunday’s contest, there won’t be a QB controversy—it will be Mike White’s ball until he proves the stage is too big for him, with Zach Wilson’s “reset” an ongoing process to be evaluated in a live setting only when Gang Green is pretty much out of the playoff picture.
However, some view White’s mission for this week as simply acting as a “game manager.”
I’m sorry, but against a team like the Vikings with so many very talented skill position players, that isn’t going to cut it. To assume that the Jets’ defense, which is on a remarkable run since Week 3, can win this game single-handedly alongside an ultra-conservative offensive game plan would be a mistake.
Besides, you wouldn’t call what White did last week in the Jets’ 31-10 victory over Chicago game management. That phrase implies that White had minimal impact in the passing game, with the offense mainly carried by handoffs. Ahem, but White threw for over 300 yards through three quarters before New York’s priorities changed with the big lead. If that’s what you call being a game manager, then, to paraphrase “The Princess Bride”, the term doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Just because White doesn’t have the arm to test opposing defenses with the longer balls—just one of his 28 throws traveled over 20 yards last week, the 22-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore in the third quarter, per ProFootballFocus.com—doesn’t mean the Jets played it conservative. White was dealing in the short and intermediate zones to the tune of 11.3 yards per attempt, the most of any Week 12 starting quarterback. He also had the highest expected points added per play (0.56), according to rbsdm.com.
On the Jets’ opening drive, they threw four first-down passes versus one handoff, a vastly more aggressive approach over any script given to Wilson. White went 3-for-4 for 34 yards on those dropbacks and it led to New York’s first opening drive touchdown of the season.
That’s what it will take when the Jets step up in competition over the next two weeks, with a tough rematch in Buffalo awaiting them next Sunday. Let’s not forget that all but two of New York’s wins this season have come in games where their opponent played backup quarterbacks. The Jets also beat a sore-thumbed Aaron Rodgers and what we now know to be a vastly overrated Packers squad. Their only victory against a legitimate pro offense came against the Bills, where the Jets defense turned the screws on Bills QB Josh Allen in the fourth quarter to allow Gang Green’s ground game (174 yards rushing) to steal it.
While Minnesota QB Kirk Cousins is no Allen, especially when it comes to using his legs to cause damage, his complement of weapons makes him very dangerous. There might not be a wide receiver playing better right now than third-year pro Justin Jefferson. Take out the 40-3 whupping Dallas gave them two weeks ago and Jefferson is averaging over 8.5 receptions and 136 yards per game over the other seven games. As terrific a season the Jets cornerback duo of D.J. Reed and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner is having in shutting down the league’s best pass-catchers, Jefferson’s body control and hands will present a unique challenge on Sunday.
The Vikings are an odd team in that despite their gaudy record, they had a negative point differential before beating New England last week. It’s because their defense hasn’t played up to expectation—only twice have they surrendered fewer than 20 points. Their formula seems to be: Build an early lead, watch it dissolve, and then win the game late.
Like the Jets, the Vikings have been a dominant fourth quarter team, tied with them at plus-4.5 points per game in the frame. Minnesota scores about 0.9 points more per fourth quarter and allows 0.9 points fewer than New York. The Vikings also don’t blitz much (17.2%, the seventh-lowest blitz rate in the league this season), preferring to rely on a pair of edge rushers in Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter who can get after quarterbacks when the game is on the line. Plus, they should be getting back interior lineman Dalvin Tomlinson in time for Sunday’s contest.
Make no mistake, the Jets are going to need White to win this game by creating opportunities for his skill position players to make chunk plays, not just manage it with a bunch of handoffs and passes behind the line of scrimmage.
Prediction: Vikings 27 Jets 23