5 Things to Know about New Jets QB FitzPatrick

[JetBlue]

Okay here is the first of many Fitz articles..... 

 

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/52922/five-things-to-know-about-new-jets-starting-qb-ryan-fitzpatrick

 

Geno Smith out, Ryan Fitzpatrick in.

After a sucker punch from now ex-teammate IK Enemkpali broke Smith’s jaw in a locker room altercation, there will be yet another new quarterback in the AFC East -- and he will be a familiar face to the rest of the division.

Here’s what you need to know about Fitzpatrick:

 

1. He might have eventually started for the Jets, anyway: Smith was having a strong training camp and was the Jets’ starter entering this season, but that doesn’t mean Fitzpatrick was out of the equation. The Jets’ long-term outlook at quarterback was still unsettled and Fitzpatrick was expected to be an option to start if Smith struggled through the early part of the season. Smith ended last season with a 44.3 QBR, ranked 26th among 33 qualifying NFL quarterbacks.

2.  

3. Fitzpatrick and Chan Gailey have worked together before: Fitzpatrick’s best seasons came when he started for the Buffalo Bills with current Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey as his head coach. Fitzpatrick’s loose playing style and Gailey’s passing-based, spread offense resulted in Fitzpatrick throwing for 3,832 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2011, when the Bills started the season 4-2. Fitzpatrick earned a big contract extension in October 2011, but the move backfired for Buffalo. Fitzpatrick, an often reckless passer who was prone to interceptions, was released by the Bills after a 6-10 season in 2012.

4.  

5. He’s eight months removed from a broken leg: Fitzpatrick’s season ended when he broke his leg in a loss to the Indianapolis Colts last December. He went 6-6 as the Houston Texans’ starter and was traded to the Jets this past offseason.

6.  

7. He went to Harvard: Fitzpatrick is one of a small group of NFL players to hail from Harvard. Not surprisingly, his Wonderlic score reflects his education: he had a near-perfect score, but left one question on the test blank.

8.  

9. His beard lives on: Fitzpatrick is known for his bushy beard, which remained intact as the Jets began training camp last month. He still has a ways to go before it reaches Brett Keisel length, however.

[JetBlue]

From Turn on the Jets.  Best commentary I have read so far.  

 

BREAKING NEWS: Geno Smith sucker punched by LB IK Enemkpali. Smith will be out for 6-10 weeks following surgery, Enemkpal was immediately released…

 

 

Earlier today, Geno Smith was hit by IK Enemkpali during a locker room argument. The punch fractured Smith’s jaw in two places and resulted in Enemkpali’s immediate release. Smith is going into surgery and will be out for a minimum of six weeks, making his earliest potential start Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

 

Unconfirmed reports coming from Ian Rappaort and others say Geno Smith put his finger in Enemkpali’s face during an argument, leading to the sucker punch. Enemkpali has a previous history of violence – he was arrested in 2011 for disturbing the peace and battery of a police officer, according to his NFL.com scouting report. But as Coach Bowles said to reporters: “You don’t walk up to another man and punch him in the face.”

He further remarked:  “It was something very childish that 6th graders could have talked about. It had no reason to happen.”

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick is now the starting QB, followed by Bryce Petty and Jake Heaps. While a vocal minority of Jets fans were clamoring for Fitzpatrick to take the reins, his camp has been lackluster compared to Smith’s. I don’t believe anyone would want this change to happen for such an awful reason, however.

 

Bowles has not confirmed whether or not the Jets will be pursuing another QB but there are rumors of them having interest in Tyler Thigpen, who previously had some success with offensive coordinator Chan Gailey.

 

Joe Caporoso: I’ve seen some bizarre stories since I began writing about this team but this is certainly up there. More information on the entire scope of this situation should be on the way soon, particularly after the Jets break practice. A handful of immediate reactions/thoughts:

• Six weeks puts Smith’s timetable at 5 days before the Jets week 3 game. A more realistic timetable might be after the Jets week 4 bye.
   
• Ryan Fitzpatrick has played poorly this spring and summer. However, he is a competent backup with experience in Chan Gailey’s offense as a starter. The Jets offense will have less down field capability and still be susceptible to turnovers but FItzpatrick can keep the chains moving in the short to intermediate passing game.
   
• The Jets are going to add another quarterback sooner rather than later. Bryce Petty is receiving no consideration to start. This is Fitzpatrick’s job, which he will have the opportunity to hold if the team’s offense is productive with him early in the season.
   
• This is just a personal opinion: If you are celebrating this injury to Smith, victim blaming him or trying to justify a sucker punch by IK, then you are contributor to the perception of Jets fans being moronic…and chances are that adjective fits you well individually.

 

[jgb]

Not even geno haters wanted geno to lose his job this way. Leaves door open to "we STILL dont know what we have in Geno" even if fitz takes team to playoffs.

This is horrible news for all jets fans.

[SweetLee83]

I know Jets fans made fun of us when he was the starter here, now years and 2 teams later, he's you're guy. Interested how everyone feels about him. 

[JetBlue]

I know Jets fans made fun of us when he was the starter here, now years and 2 teams later, he's you're guy. Interested how everyone feels about him. 

Troll much?  Obviously you have not been following this board the last 3 months or you would know that the vast majority prefers him over Geno.  They point to his 17 td and 8 int and passer rating of 95 and 7 years experience and feel he is a better option than Geno Smith.  I personally disagree as I am/was interested to see how Smith would do with better coaching and better weapons in his 3rd year.   

[Snell41]

Not even geno haters wanted geno to lose his job this way. Leaves door open to "we STILL dont know what we have in Geno" even if fitz takes team to playoffs.

This is horrible news for all jets fans.

 

Please do go back to the Geno thread and come back here and say this again.  Face it, the Jets won their "Superbowl" for the fans again.  This is why we're laughed at.  Pennington lay writhing in pain, the stadium cheers.  Geno makes one mistake in a practice, the stadium boos the hell out of him.  Sanchez, Tebow, on and on and on....  Jets fans are an absolute disgrace.  They didn't get the national attention as a bunch of jackals and idiots by coincidence, it's because for the most part they are. 

[Snell41]

I know Jets fans made fun of us when he was the starter here, now years and 2 teams later, he's you're guy. Interested how everyone feels about him. 

 

Oh it's comical.  I remember all the taunts at Fitz from Jets fans, many who are probably now calling him conquering hero lol.  Jets fans by and large suck as human beings.  That's one thing that can not be debated.

[CobraVerde]

There's only one thing you need to know:

 

HE SUCKS. 

[neckdemon]

I know Jets fans made fun of us when he was the starter here, now years and 2 teams later, he's you're guy. Interested how everyone feels about him. 

 

 

honestly. i think he's a stop-gap. average qb who hopefully won't lose any games for us by being stupid with the football. not a solution at the position

[JetFaninMI]

This team just cant catch a break. This means Geno is out until week 5 at least. To some that maybe a good thing but I thought with  real talent at WR He just might be good enough to get this team to the playoffs. Man this just pisses me off.

[jgb]

Please do go back to the Geno thread and come back here and say this again.  Face it, the Jets won their "Superbowl" for the fans again.  This is why we're laughed at.  Pennington lay writhing in pain, the stadium cheers.  Geno makes one mistake in a practice, the stadium boos the hell out of him.  Sanchez, Tebow, on and on and on....  Jets fans are an absolute disgrace.  They didn't get the national attention as a bunch of jackals and idiots by coincidence, it's because for the most part they are.

There will always be a few that hold opinions out of mainstream

[JetBlue]

Please do go back to the Geno thread and come back here and say this again.  Face it, the Jets won their "Superbowl" for the fans again.  This is why we're laughed at.  Pennington lay writhing in pain, the stadium cheers.  Geno makes one mistake in a practice, the stadium boos the hell out of him.  Sanchez, Tebow, on and on and on....  Jets fans are an absolute disgrace.  They didn't get the national attention as a bunch of jackals and idiots by coincidence, it's because for the most part they are. 

 

I agree with you 1000000 percent.  It is truly ridiculous. 

[CrazyCarl40]

There's only one thing you need to know:

 

HE SUCKS. 

 

Also, meant to down vote your post. Whoops.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/174055/inside-slant-jets-are-better-at-qb-today-with-ryan-fitzpatrick

 

If you can get past the shock associated with how New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith broke his jaw, and swallow hard on the implications for his career, at least in the short-term you can move to a far more uplifting conclusion: The Jets should be better at quarterback in his absence.

Lost to most of the NFL world is the reality that current Jets backup Ryan Fitzpatrick had one of his best seasons in 2014 with the Houston Texans. He outperformed Smith in every metric imaginable, compiling a career-high 56.7 Total Quarterback Rating on the strength of a 63.1 completion percentage and a touchdown-completion ratio (2.12) that ranked No. 13 in the NFL.

Compare that to Smith, whose 1.0 touchdown-interceptions ratio ranked No. 30 in the league during a season in which you could have expected him to take a step forward. His QBR of 44.3 ranked No. 26. Earlier this offseason, colleague Mike Sando used advanced analytics to calculate that Fitzpatrick would have been worth 2.5 additional wins per year over Smith over each of the past two seasons.

If Fitzpatrick is so skilled, it's fair to ask, then why wasn't he competing with Smith for the Jets' starting job? The simple answer is that the organization was committed to finding out, once and for all, whether Smith is the long-term answer. Fitzpatrick would always be available, and primed to work with a familiar offensive coordinator, if Smith bombed out. (Fitzpatrick and Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey were together with the Buffalo Bills from 2010 to '12.)

That plan has now been delayed, if not scuttled entirely, by Tuesday morning's altercation (sucker punch is another fitting description) in the Jets' locker room.

It's an undeniable setback for the Jets from a long-term organizational standpoint, at least based on the hope that Smith would take a step forward and prove to be the answer they hoped for. And it might ultimately force a decision on Smith without seeing him at his best on the field.

In the short term, however, they might have upgraded at the position and surely haven't lost any ground. How's that for looking on the bright side?

[nyjunc]

I know Jets fans made fun of us when he was the starter here, now years and 2 teams later, he's you're guy. Interested how everyone feels about him. 

happy w/ him as a backup. for a game or a few games we can survive but for 16 games w/ him we'd have no chance.

[drdetroit]

There's only one thing you need to know:

 

HE SUCKS. 

gay post

[UnitedWhofans]

There's only one thing you need to know:

 

HE SUCKS. 

The numbers disagree. 

[UnitedWhofans]

happy w/ him as a backup. for a game or a few games we can survive but for 16 games w/ him we'd have no chance.

Again, the numbers disagree. I will still take 11 TDs and 8 INTs over what we've gotten in the last few years.

[nyjunc]

Again, the numbers disagree. I will still take 11 TDs and 8 INTs over what we've gotten in the last few years.

11 and 8 w/o wins means nothing.  there's a reason his teams have never won more than 6 games w/ him as a starter in a single season.

[UnitedWhofans]

11 and 8 w/o wins means nothing.  there's a reason his teams have never won more than 6 games w/ him as a starter in a single season.

I don't know. Buffalo's defense was awful. Personnel bad.

 

Was 6-5 with Houston last year.

 

And to be fair Geno hasn't won more than 6 games either. Two games won by penalty.

[nyjunc]

I don't know. Buffalo's defense was awful. Personnel bad.

 

Was 6-5 with Houston last year.

 

And to be fair Geno hasn't won more than 6 games either. Two games won by penalty.

was 6-6 w/ Houston, backups were 3-1.

 

Buffalo had more than enough talent to at least compete for a playoff spot and he couldn't even lead them to competing.

 

he won 8 games as a rookie.  he made the play to draw the penalty in the first one.

[UnitedWhofans]

was 6-6 w/ Houston, backups were 3-1.

 

Buffalo had more than enough talent to at least compete for a playoff spot and he couldn't even lead them to competing.

 

he won 8 games as a rookie.  he made the play to draw the penalty in the first one.

But it was still a penalty. He was inches away from losing that game.

 

All I need to look at are the Vegas odds.

 

The starting QB gets hurt and not only are the Jets still favored at home but they were only lowered half a point.

 

If that happened to Tom Brady, the Pats would be underdogs at home.

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick is mediocre to average. Geno Smith was sh*tty. I will take mediocre to average over sh*tty.

[UnitedWhofans]

Even Madden says that Fitz is better.

 

EA SPORTS Madden NFL ‏@EAMaddenNFL  2h2 hours ago

The @nyjets's backup QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is rated 78 OVR in #Madden16. Geno Smith? 76 OVR...

[nyjunc]

But it was still a penalty. He was inches away from losing that game.

 

All I need to look at are the Vegas odds.

 

The starting QB gets hurt and not only are the Jets still favored at home but they were only lowered half a point.

 

If that happened to Tom Brady, the Pats would be underdogs at home.

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick is mediocre to average. Geno Smith was sh*tty. I will take mediocre to average over sh*tty.

and they won, they won 8 games w/ him as the starter.  soemthing Fitz's teams have never been able to do.

 

 

so the odds went down?

 

Tom Brady is the best QB of his generation and possibly best of all time, do you think that is a fair comparison?

[UnitedWhofans]

and they won, they won 8 games w/ him as the starter.  soemthing Fitz's teams have never been able to do.

 

 

so the odds went down?

 

Tom Brady is the best QB of his generation and possibly best of all time, do you think that is a fair comparison?

 

BY HALF A POINT. The most important position in the NFL gets hurt and the Jets only lose HALF A POINT

 

YOu want to go down?

 

Matt Ryan gets hurt. Falcons become underdogs at home.

 

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/174055/inside-slant-jets-are-better-at-qb-today-with-ryan-fitzpatrick

[nyjunc]

BY HALF A POINT. The most important position in the NFL gets hurt and the Jets only lose HALF A POINT

 

YOu want to go down?

 

Matt Ryan gets hurt. Falcons become underdogs at home.

 

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/174055/inside-slant-jets-are-better-at-qb-today-with-ryan-fitzpatrick

so the odds went down, right?

[UnitedWhofans]

so the odds went down, right?

 

You clearly are not getting the point. To go down so little means how little Geno Smith was worth to the Jets. 

[joewilly12]

Fitzpatrick lets rally behind our new QB 

[GandWFan]

and they won, they won 8 games w/ him as the starter.  soemthing Fitz's teams have never been able to do.

 

 

so the odds went down?

 

Tom Brady is the best CHEATER of his generation and possibly best of all time, do you think that is a fair comparison?

 

Fixed that for you.  Your welcome.

[nyjunc]

You clearly are not getting the point. To go down so little means how little Geno Smith was worth to the Jets. 

I understand the point, they think we are worse w/ geno out.  whether it's 1/8 of a point or 40 pts worse is worse.

[nyjunc]

Fixed that for you.  Your welcome.

I choose not to whine but rather to tip my cap.  Brady is the best I have ever seen.

[UnitedWhofans]

I understand the point, they think we are worse w/ geno out.  whether it's 1/8 of a point or 40 pts worse is worse.

 

But not "end the season" worse.

[GandWFan]

I choose not to whine but rather to tip my cap.  Brady is the best I have ever seen.

 

Whatever you say, Mrs. Brady.

[nyjunc]

But not "end the season" worse.

I don't know where we would have gone w/ Geno.  I think I know we aren't going anywhere w/ Fitz but I hope I am wrong.  geno was hit or miss, Fitz will put up some #s and fool people and lead us to more entertaining losses.

[nyjunc]

Whatever you say, Mrs. Brady.

I think this is what geno and ik were arguing about in the LR. 

[UnitedWhofans]

Great point by Ed Werner. The Cardinals last year were starting RYAN LINDLEY at QB in the playoffs. Todd Bowles isn't going to be scared of Ryan Fitzpatrick