Joe Flacco gets the start again in Week 2 for the Jets

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — – It will remain Joe’s show.

The Jets are sticking with Joe Flacco at quarterback. He will start against the Browns on Sunday in Cleveland with Mike White serving as the backup.

Robert Saleh left the door open a crack for a quarterback change on Monday when he didn’t fully commit to Flacco after the Jets’ offense stumbled in Week 1 against the Ravens. Saleh shut that door on Wednesday and fully committed to Flacco.

Saleh said “a comedy of errors” led to the Jets’ poor showing offensively and he didn’t give much thought to taking the ball away from Flacco.

“There was no serious [consideration] to make a change with Joe,” Saleh said before Jets’ practice. “It’s one game, played a really good defense. I know the quarterback gets celebrated and all the negativity, too, the positives and the negatives. But there were a lot of things that we as a team could have done to help out a lot during the game, too.

“We’ll give it another run and I think Joe will be a lot better.”

It was a sloppy opener for the Jets. They lost 24-9 and didn’t score a touchdown until their 84th and last offensive snap of the game. Flacco, who is 0-6 as a Jets starter, attempted an eyebrow-raising 59 passes. He was 37-for-59 for 309 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

During the game, the MetLife Stadium fans chanted for White. He played well in his first two NFL starts last year, including a 405-yard, three-touchdown game in a win over the eventual AFC champion Bengals.  

The fans have been clamoring for White since, especially with Zach Wilson sidelined with a knee injury until Week 4 at the earliest. The Jets have consistently said they believe in Flacco and his experience is important against tough, veteran defenses.

Saleh tried to quickly dismiss the idea of pulling Flacco in the Browns’ game if the offense stumbles again – but it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility.

“No,” Saleh said. “Joe’s our quarterback. We’re focusing on Cleveland, just trying to get through this one and we’ll see what happens.”

Saleh said he thought Flacco did “a bunch of different things” well on Sunday. He said Flacco was “very, very efficient” when he had a clean pocket. The offensive line, though, didn’t give him one often. Flacco was pressured more than 20 times, sacked three times and hit 11.

The Jets also experienced some self-inflicted wounds with drops and fumbles deep in Baltimore territory. Rookie running back Breece Hall fumbled in the red zone, Michael Carter dropped what would have been a walk-in touchdown and Tyler Conklin fumbled as he was being brought down near the 20.

“It was more than just him,” Saleh said. “There’s the O-line, there’s route running, the dropped passes, the fumbles that stalled drives. There was a comedy of errors that just led to what looked like a bad performance by him. Now, it wasn’t the best performance, but it wasn’t as bad as people think it was.”

The 37-year-old Flacco wasn’t happy with how he played.

“My job as a quarterback is to put the ball in the end zone and score points and put our team in position to win,” Flacco said. “Anytime that doesn’t happen, it starts and ends with the quarterback position and that’s myself. It was obviously a frustrating day not being able to do that as well as we wanted to.”

Flacco said he wasn’t sure if he had ever attempted 59 passes in a game before. He actually threw 62 twice while he was a member of the Ravens. Flacco said throwing 59 times is “not the recipe that you want week in and week out.”

The Jets probably won’t repeat that against the Browns and will look for more balance with the pass and run game against Cleveland’s front that features Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney. If they can’t contain the Browns’ pass rush, it could be another long day for Flacco and the Jets.

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.