Mike White put himself on the map with a breakout performance Sunday, and he also made the Mike White of eight years ago look really good.
The New York Jets quarterback stepped in for the injured Zach Wilson on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals and led Gang Green to a 34-31 upset victory. White threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Jets erase a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Bengals.
After the game, White saw one of his old tweets about Peyton Manning from 2013 go viral.
“Peyton Manning, I hate to break it to you, but I’m gonna break your record one day,” the tweet read.
White appears to have been referring to the still NFL-record 55 touchdown passes that Manning threw in the 2013 season as a member of the Denver Broncos. While White won’t break that record this season after stepping in midway through the year, his four touchdown passes on Sunday are actually better than the 3.44 per game that Manning averaged during his record-setting year.
It already appears that White has overtaken Wilson for the starting job. That means he may get a chance to start chasing the very specific dream that he had as an 18-year-old.
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