Mike White out for Jets finale in final quarterback twist of season

The Jets will end their unpredictable season Sunday the same way they started it: with Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback. 

Mike White was ruled out Friday for the season finale against the Dolphins because his five broken ribs have flared up again, meaning Flacco, soon to be 38, will get the start, with Zach Wilson backing him up. 

White had missed two games after breaking his ribs on Dec. 11, but got doctors’ clearance to return last week against the Seahawks and try to keep the Jets’ playoff hopes alive. But White appeared compromised in the loss, especially after taking a sack at the end of the first half that aggravated the injury. He still didn’t feel right by practice Thursday. 

“I just can’t do what I want to be able to do out there,” White said Friday. “Guys don’t deserve that.” 

Instead, Flacco will make his fourth start of the season on Sunday after he started the first three games of the year, while Wilson was injured. Flacco will be behind an offensive line missing three starters: left tackle Duane Brown (shoulder), right tackle George Fant (knee) and right guard Nate Herbig (calf). Herbig’s backup, Laurent Duvernday-Tardif, also will be a game-time decision to play. 

The beat-up offensive line may have played a role in Wilson serving as the No. 2 rather than getting one last shot under center to cap off a season in which he has struggled when healthy. 

“It’s more give Joe this opportunity,” head coach Robert Saleh said. “But also with Zach, I’m going to call it a coach’s decision. I’m going to stay firm with him and make sure he gets to attack this offseason. I just want to get him to the offseason so he can start and attack the plan that we’ve been building. Putting him out there right now, it’s not going to do him any good. It’s not going to do anyone any good. For Zach, it’s all about ’23.” 

The final quarterback twist appears fitting for the Jets given the way things have gone this season, which will end with Wilson having started nine games and White and Flacco four apiece. During the quarterback carousel, the Jets got out to a 7-4 start to put themselves in the playoff hunt before losing five straight games, entering Sunday. 

“It is challenging,” Saleh said. “Some of it is obviously because of injury. But it’s the head of the snake. If you’re not getting consistent play or consistent movement from the head of the snake, it’s not going to be good. We’ve got to be better as coaches. There’s some circumstances for the quarterback that just made it impossible for them to be consistent and then there’s some things that were self-inflicted. But it’s not in a vacuum. There’s a lot of different things that have contributed to it over the course of the year. 

“It’s something that we’re gonna get fixed in the offseason. It has to.” 

In the meantime, Flacco will start for the 180th time in his career, though he said he has given no thought to whether he will play beyond this season. After beginning the season as the starter, he has since gone from the No. 2 quarterback to No. 3, then back to No. 2 and No. 1 in a matter of weeks. 

Playing just his fifth game of the season, Flacco would only need two touchdown passes to lead the team in that category this season — an indictment of the Jets’ quarterback situation. 

“Every season presents different challenges,” Flacco said of his turbulent year. “Yeah, can you get angry and can you act like a baby and do all those things? I guess so. I hope that I would never do that. … At this point, you forget all about that stuff, and you’re just excited to go play a football game.”