When the Jets last left MetLife Stadium, chants of “Mike White, Mike White, Mike White’’ from euphoric fans echoed through the building.
The words “euphoric’’ and “Jets fans’’ have not shared the same sentence very often for the past 10-plus years. That’s what a playoff drought of more than a decade will do. It, too, is what happens when a team is on its fourth head coach and fourth general manager in that span.
But two Sundays ago at the Meadowlands, all of that negativity was forgotten for three glorious hours as a Cinderella story unfolded before the disbelieving eyes of Jets fans, who haven’t had many Sundays walking back to their cars feeling the kind of breathless buzz that White created for them.
The celebratory sounds from those delirious fans were beautiful after White, playing in place of injured No. 2-overall draft pick Zach Wilson, threw for 405 yards in a 34-31 upset victory over the Bengals.
It has been a wild ride for White, who appeared to be en route to another strong performance nine days ago in Indianapolis when he suffered a forearm injury and had to leave a game that was tied 7-7 in the first quarter.
Wilson’s right knee still is not fully healed and White’s forearm is healed (not to mention White’s past five quarters of football having looked a lot like Tom Brady performances), so White will start against the Bills (5-3) on Sunday at MetLife in yet another game the Jets aren’t supposed to win (they’re 12-point underdogs).
The Jets weren’t supposed beat the Bengals, either. They entered that game as 11.5-point ’dogs. That, of course, didn’t matter to White, who dissected the Cincinnati defense with the poise and precision of a 12-year veteran, not a guy making his first NFL start.
Now, the trick for the Jets and White on Sunday is to recreate that rare festive atmosphere they produced two weeks ago. The sledding gets a bit tougher considering the fact that the Bills have the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL.
Every Jets fan is curious about whether this White thing is a flash in the pan or will be sustainable — with visions that their team might actually have two franchise quarterback candidates instead of the one they hope Wilson will become with some more seasoning.
“He’s come in and done a great job and you want him to keep it rolling,’’ guard Greg Van Roten said after practice Friday. “You want to see it continue, because we’re playing well and we want to win some games.’’
The Jets are 2-1 at MetLife Stadium, with their other win coming against the Titans, who were the No. 1-ranked team in the AFC at the time they played the Jets.
Does Mike White Mania have staying power?
No one truly knows, but that question will make Sunday’s game a hell of a lot more compelling to watch than if it were simply between any old 2-6 team playing a 5-3 division leader.
Jets fans are curious and, while no one will admit it, there has to be a similar curiosity inside the team’s building — from ownership to general manager Joe Douglas to head coach Robert Saleh to the locker room.
The Jets, in their previous two games, scored 34 points with 511 yards and 30 points with 486 yards. That came after they had averaged just 13.3 points and 277 yards of offense in the first four games with Wilson at quarterback.
“I think we’re coming together as an offense,’’ Van Roten said. “And you can see that.’’
White, who has been the catalyst to that “coming together,’’ spoke Thursday of how his teammates are still playfully chanting his name when he walks into the locker room.
When Saleh was asked whether he thinks the Jets are doing that because they “love him or respect the hell out of him,’’ he said: “Probably both. I think they’d feel that way even if he didn’t play, because everyone loves Mike, even from training camp and OTAs. I don’t think any of that has changed.’’
What has changed is the tenor of the Jets’ season since White stepped in. If he’s able to keep the mojo going Sunday, he will have presented a quarterback dilemma Saleh would welcome.
“Our goal as coaches is to make [general manager] Joe D’s job as hard as possible,’’ Saleh said. “If Mike does a great job and makes Joe’s job harder, then we did our job.’’