Written by Amy Parlapiano at SI.com
Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has been on six different teams in his 12-year NFL career. His performance in the Jets’ 28–3 Monday night loss to the Cardinals—which saw him get benched for backup quarterback Geno Smith in the fourth quarter—was a clear reminder of why teams have never been too interested in keeping him around for very long.
If you flash back to the summer, you might remember how much was made out of Fitzpatrick’s unwillingness to budge on contract talks this off-season. As the drama with the veteran dragged on, many postulated that the team’s success was incumbent upon the journeyman’s return. Will he or won’t he?! If he won’t, the Jets’ season will surely go down the drain! Their other options are Geno Smith, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg! They need him back!
It would be unfair and unwise to say that the team’s failures are all because of Fitzpatrick. After all, he didn’t have anything to do with giving up three touchdowns to David Johnson on Monday night. And he’s not responsible for the running game only gaining 33 yards. But the 2016 Jets are a poorly disciplined team (10 penalties for 83 yards on Monday) with an awful secondary which deserves a whole separate story written about its many woes. Wide receiver Eric Decker, who had 12 touchdowns and 1,027 yards last year, is on IR. Todd Bowles has made some head-scratching coaching decisions over the Jets’ first six games. They have had an incredibly difficult schedule to start the year, but make no qualms about it: They are a bad team.
But it is not unfair to say that an enormous part of why they are a bad team is because Ryan Fitzpatrick has been a very bad quarterback. The Jets made a mistake in assuming that if they got him back, he’d be able to take control of the offense and turn it into the same productive unit it was last year, when it totaled 5,925 yards. He has not been consistent and he has not been reliable in 2016. Fitzpatrick has the most interceptions in the league, including the most in the red zone. Over the last four games, he is 84 of 154 for 878 yards, 2 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He is not the answer, and in reality, he never really was—he was never going to be the long-term solution, and that’s what the Jets have always been in need of at the quarterback position.
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