Jets’ Mike White doesn’t blame injury for poor play against Seahawks

SEATTLE — Mike White had no interest in talking about the physical pain he must have felt on Sunday while playing against a rib injury. This Jets calamity was his.

“Look, I was cleared to play by the doctors,” White said after Sunday’s 23-6 loss to the Seahawks that knocked the Jets out of the playoffs. “The guys in this locker room deserve a certain level and I knew what I was signing up for. I was cleared by the doctors. I trained all week. Basically what I’m saying is there’s a standard these guys deserve and I didn’t live up to that standard or play by that standard today.

When White was allowed to lead the game, it instilled optimism in the Jets, who needed to win and hope the Patriots would lose one of their last two games in order to qualify for the playoffs for the first. times since 2010. had been incompetent and disorganized with Zach Wilson at the helm against Jacksonville the previous week and White, who had led the Jets to their last win since Nov. 27, was their best prospect.

But White, injured or not, came out and played almost as badly as Wilson the week before. His last stat line was 23 of 46 for 240 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. The Jets got two field goals early in the game and never sniffed the end zone again, with White’s second interception against Mike Jackson serving as a backbreaker.

“It stings, it’s hard, it’s heartbreaking,” White said. “It’s all of the above.”

White lost none of his popularity in the Jets locker room, where the rest of the offense quickly took as much responsibility for a performance in which the team failed to break through for 300 yards.

“Everybody’s gonna blame the quarterback no matter what, everybody’s gonna blame the quarterback no matter what. It’s been like this all year,” said tight end CJ Uzomah “It’s not one person’s business. It’s the whole team. We didn’t execute. We didn’t do what we had to do. Good sure he’s gonna do that, that’s the quarterback, he’s gonna put that on him but it’s not on him It’s on us We haven’t, in the last few games we haven’t we didn’t play well.

On the list of recriminations, however, White’s future might top the list. Had the Jets made it into the playoffs, that likely would have put White in position to be the starter next season. Now, who knows what GM Joe Douglas will do, but this performance will surely weigh in on his decision.

“It’s shocking,” White said of the failure to score a touchdown. “That’s not what you want to do as an offense.”