Nov 21, 2021; East Rutherford, N.J., USA; New York Jets quarterback Joe Flacco (19) throws against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
by Jeff Moeller, The New York Extra/TheNYExtra.com
Joe Flacco will be back under center against 3-7 Miami Sunday at MetLife, and the move caught everyone by surprise.
Head coach Robert Saleh’s announcement shouldn’t have. The Jets surrendered a sixth-round pick to the Eagles because they believed Flacco was their guy all along.
It was just another move on the Jets’ quarterback carousel this season, and another piece of the Jets’ fractured puzzle that has been tried to finagle back into place.
It’s been the offense, defense, and sometimes, the special teams that have scattered this season to likely forget.
The Mike White experiment basically was a gamble that GM Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh tried to sell the Jets’ base as White being an Ace in the hole Douglas and Saleh beamed about White’s potential and ability in training camp, and there were still plenty of doubts that he was the backup to Zach Wilson ( I made a strong pitch for a veteran backup).
But the Jets stayed with White and had veteran Josh Johnson as an insurance policy. White has a pedestrian showing taking over for the injured Wilson against New England, and the Jets kept selling him.
White’s 400-yard performance in the win over Cincinnati sealed it. He was the guy and maybe there was a quarterback controversy brewing.
White showed enough flash in the Colts’ game before he got hurt to justify coming back against Buffalo. Johnson was one of the few Jets who played with some fire against the Colts, but he was shipped back into third-string oblivion.
It all ended for White against Buffalo with his four interceptions. Many believed he was exposed as the waiver wire bump he was the past three years.
As for the 36-year-old Flacco? The Jets wouldn’t have wasted a pick on him to hold a clipboard. White was the feel-good flyer, but Flacco was the real deal. The Jets can’t have much faith in Johnson either as anything more than a last-minute safety valve.
In hindsight, the Jets should have worked out a deal with Flacco last year to start this season until they felt Wilson was totally ready to step under center. However, there was too much pressure to make a big splash with Wilson, as the Jets believed they could find some magic in a bottle (see New England’s Mac Jones, who they could have had).
Now, the 2-7 Jets will have an immobile Flacco against a rising Dolphins team that has won two straight with their advancing attacking and blitzing “Cover Zero” defense. Flacco was ravaged last year by the Dolphins for three sacks and an interception, completing 21 of 44 for 186 yards in a 24-0 loss.
Still, this is a winnable game for the Jets, if they can get a big game from running back Michael Carter, and a decent performance from their defense that has been thrashed the past four weeks.
Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t lived up to his billing, and the Dolphins’ offense hasn’t been on par with its defense.
At this point, the Jets have to gain some credibility back, and they have entrusted Flacco and linebacker C.J. Mosley and his defense to both play a major role.
It will be another move with an interesting outcome ahead during a season of fractured pieces of their puzzle they try to piece together.
