A week after they picked up a huge victory over the division rival Baltimore Ravens to take over first place in the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals lost that spot after being upset by the New York Jets. Double-digit road favorites for the first time in multiple decades, the Bengals blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead after giving up two touchdowns in 53 seconds.
Cincinnati’s defense had yet to yield more than 22 points in regulation this season, but proceeded to give up 34 points to a Jets team that was previously averaging just 13.3 per game. And they did so while playing against a backup quarterback who had thrown 32 career passes and was making his first career start.
White, playing in relief of No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson, had a fascinating performance on Sunday. He completing 37 of 45 passes for 405 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions, while at one point he had thrown 14 passes, completing 12 of them to his own team and two to the opposing team.
White also briefly left the game due to injury, being replaced by journeyman backup Josh Johnson for a few plays. White hit his head into the back of an offensive lineman and was down on the field, but eventually jogged off under his own power and later returned to the game to lead New York’s stirring comeback.
Because the quality of White’s performance far exceeded anything that Wilson had done this season, Jets coach Robert Saleh was asked after the game about the possibility of White — a fifth-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2018 who had never played in a game until last week — being the team’s quarterback of the future. Somewhat surprisingly, Saleh did not rule it out, instead noting that “anything is possible.”
White is likely to play at least a game or two more as Wilson heals from the injury he sustained last week against the Patriots, but it seems unlikely that he supplants Wilson in the team’s plans, regardless of what Saleh said on Sunday.
