Luke Falk realized the coincidence when he looked at his phone during the draft in 2018 and saw the Titans were calling him.

Tennessee took him in the sixth round, pick No. 199 overall, out of Washington State. That, of course, is the round and pick in which the Patriots drafted Tom Brady in 2000. Falk grew up idolizing Brady, and now he was drafted in the same spot.

“I was like, ‘No way.’ It was pretty cool,” Falk said Thursday. “I was just happy to get drafted.”

Now, Falk will be the Jets’ starting quarterback against Brady and the Patriots on Sunday. The 24-year-old from Utah was on the Jets’ practice squad a week ago. The team elevated him to the active roster Monday afternoon before they played the Browns to serve as the backup to Trevor Siemian, who was starting in place of Sam Darnold, who had been sidelined with mononucleosis. Then, Myles Garrett drilled Siemian in the second quarter and the quarterback fell awkwardly, tearing ligaments in his left ankle.

Suddenly, Falk went from afterthought to the team’s quarterback.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but it’s starting to slow down,” Falk said. “I’m just excited for the opportunity. I just want to go out there, do my job and help my team win.”

Falk did OK against the Browns when you consider that was the first time he had played with many of the players on the starting offense. He had never handed a ball off to Le’Veon Bell before. He had never taken a snap from Ryan Kalil. Falk entered training camp as the team’s fourth quarterback and received very few reps in practice.

Falk was waived by the Titans before the season and was picked up by Miami. Jets coach Adam Gase was in Miami last season. Falk spent the year watching and learning. He was on injured reserve for most of it after injuring his wrist in October. But the time in Gase’s system made Falk an attractive option for the Jets, who signed him in May. He was cut at the end of training camp, but they signed him to the practice squad.

Now, he is their third starting quarterback in three weeks.

“If you’re around him, it’s not hard [to be confident in him] because he’s confident in himself,” Gase said. “He knows the offense. He does a good job. He trusts the guys around him. He just works to do his job. He tries to do a good job of communicating everything. He’s very quick on his feet. He’s very smart. He got to some checks in this last game where I don’t know if any of us expected that to happen, for him to be that aggressive.”

Gase acknowledged he was probably too conservative when Falk first entered the game Monday night. They leaned heavily on runs to Bell and some short passes. They opened things up a little more in the second half. Falk finished 20-of-25 for 198 yards and had a 36-yard pass to Robby Anderson.

“I probably was being too cautious early with him,” Gase said. “In my head, I was like, ‘Let me get him in the game. Let me get him kind of rolling a little bit. Let me get him calm,’ and he was good after one play. I probably held him back a little bit, but I think moving forward we’ll just keep opening it up as much as we can.”

Whenever a quarterback makes his first NFL start, it is a difficult situation. Falk is walking into what feels like an impossible one in Foxborough against a Bill Belichick defense that has not given up a touchdown this year.

“You’ve got to realize it’s just football,” Falk said. “I’ve been playing this sport for a long time, obviously not at this level. But you’ve just got to keep simple things simple, go out and execute the game plan and just put the ball on play. You’ve got to focus on the small things and not get too wrapped up in the whole big picture I guess.”