Robert Saleh got it right by deciding Mike White will start on Sunday against the Bills.
But he better be careful here, because a flicker of quarterback indecision — or the wrong decision — can become a five-alarm fire.
Two quarterbacks who you believe can play is a good problem to have — until it isn’t.
Saleh kicking the can down to the road opens the door another crack to a potential 2021 Quarterback Controversy between Mike White and Zach Wilson — still the Chosen One, for now the Frozen One.
“I think it’s gonna happen organically,” Saleh said. “If Mike does phenomenal like we think he’s gonna do, that’s not weird, it’s awesome to me. … I think it’ll all take care of itself. We just have to let it play out.”
The party line: White’s right forearm is healthier than Wilson’s right knee.
So Saleh walks the tightrope.
The Jets view Wilson as a Lamborghini who will eventually take them places a franchise expects its franchise quarterback to take it.
Except the Lamborghini needs a tuneup, and they’re keeping it in the garage for right now.
White has been driving a Toyota Prius, one of the most reliable cars on the road.
From the moment Wilson was drafted, with the second-overall pick, the franchise handed him the keys and gave him license to drive anywhere and everywhere.
Now?
“There’s a great amount of growth that can happen whether he’s playing or not,” Saleh said. “Those are facts.”
“All gas, no brake” for Zach Wilson is now, “All gas, one break.”
“Mike has done a phenomenal job in presenting the ability where you’re getting good football out of the quarterback. … It would be one thing if you were throwing out a quarterback and he was just playing terrible, and there’s nothing to learn from. It’s another thing when there’s a quarterback that’s giving you a clear blueprint on how this offense is supposed to be run in that regard,” Saleh said.
Wilson has been on the sideline cheering on White. Presumably, he has no immediate worries about his standing as Quarterback of the Future. In the meantime, it would be the worst possible look for him to even drizzle on the Quarterback of the Present’s parade. Wilson will continue to say and do the right things. The Jets fell head over heels for him for his arm talent, for his love for the game … and for his makeup.
It is Mike White whose future is now for this reason:
He gives the Jets a better chance to win than Wilson does at this moment in Jets history. He knows how to play the NFL game and the quarterback position in this offense better than Wilson does at this moment in Jets history.
Saleh describing White as “cool, calm and collected” means he doesn’t get rattled, and the game isn’t too big for him, and his teammates respond to him, and the coaches trust him. Wilson has been enduring growing pains. White, even with his limited NFL experience, has outgrown them.
Wilson could have run in the New York Marathon and accompanied Saleh on his pregame run up the steps of MetLife Stadium at breakneck speed and White would be starting at quarterback against the carnivorous Bills defense — a defense that can swallow rookie quarterbacks whole.
What White has essentially announced to the green-and-white world is: “No need to rush Zach back from his sprained PCL. I got this.”
There will come a day, a day they all have envisioned together, when the Jets won’t care if the modern-day version of the ’85 Bears showed up at MetLife Stadium, because Zach Wilson is their quarterback.
And good luck dealing with this kid once he takes the hero-ball beast inside him and masters the art of running this offense with efficiency and precision and poise and, oh yeah, unleashes those jaw-dropping off-platform lasers at the right moment that only a few have in their arsenal.
That day has not yet arrived.
It is now anyone’s guess when that day will arrive this season.
And so the Jets will let White cook unless and until he burns his hot hand in Mike LaFleur’s kitchen.
At some point, developing Wilson will again become paramount. Saleh better get it right figuring out when, too.