Mike White survived the game against the Buffalo Bills. When he left the game, and it was the second time he was out of the game, nobody thought he would be back. When he came back and winced every time he got knocked down, most Jets fans acknowledged this guy has something special.
Let’s hope his ribs can survive the season. I’m not throwing dirt on Zach Wilson, but this is White’s team right now, and the Jets must beat the Detroit Lions. If they don’t, they will probably fall out of the playoff hunt.
All Jets fans are proud of this team, but this team still needs to make the postseason, and these last two games showed off their fight, and now they must beat a Lions team that’s no longer a pushover.
The Jets are ranked 19th in the run game, and the Lions are 20th. The Jets have to put a lot of pressure on Jared Goff and must stop that first-down run that the Lions like to do. A good moderation of that and a semi-healthy White could be the key to victory.
The Lions’ defense is giving up 5.0 yards per carry, and teams are converting third downs at a rate of 48.1%. Zonovan Knight has been an undrafted sensation for Gang Green and he’s averaging five yards per carry. A steady diet of that takes the pressure off White and then opens things up for Garrett Wilson, who already has broken the Jets wide receiver rookie record for yards.
If the Jets had a tight end, it would really help their quarterbacks. Ty Conklin only has 18 first-down catches. His YAC is awful. It’s 5.0 yards. Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert, who has only played in nine games has 31 first downs and a YAC of 8.4 yards. The Jets must draft a tight end this year. I will look at the college tight ends and decide who they should get. I did ok with Wilson and Breece Hall, so I feel confident I can solve this decades-long problem.
The Jets will be at home this week. Let’s see if they can be very composed and take some pressure off the injured White. Robert Saleh got them here, but getting them over the hump with a win would go a long way in proving he’s the answer.
