Daydreamer

I like Ryan Fitzpatrick. He seems to be very smart, hard working and a decent backup. His arm has never been described as a cannon, big arm or even a strong arm. I laughed when I saw AVP quoted as saying that Fitzpatrick has a "big arm". Coaches are expected to say that their qb has a big arm (I guess it wouldn't sound right for a coach to say that his qb has a noodle arm, but he really likes him anyway). His stats from last year give a clue. He played in 13 games (started 12) for the Bengals after Palmer was injured. He was 221/372 (59.4%) with a 5.1 yards per attempt average. Out of 32 qbs with the most playing time last year, he was ranked 32 in ypa average. To compare, Edwards was 245/374 (65.5%) with a 7.2 ypa average (ranked 11). Maybe ypa is not the best judge of arm strength, but 5.1 ypa for a starting qb is not good. To rank 32 out of 32 is not good. (Dan Orlovsky, playing for 0-16 Detroit, had a 6.3 ypa average.) Fitzpatrick was also last in passes over 20 yards, completing only 14 in 372 attempts. It seems likely that Fitzpatrick will start this weekend and I hope that he lights it up. Last week's win was great - but he was only 10/25 (40%) with a 4.6 ypa average. And that was with the benefit of six interceptions by the defense and good field position. Edwards has regressed this year and the Bills may be looking at qbs again. It does seem possible, however, that regressing is only part of the story. Did it make sense to keep a mediocre OC and then fire him just before the start of the season? I like our young offensive linemen - but did it make sense to put together a very young offensive line and go with a no-huddle offense? Edwards, who was sacked only 23 times last year, was sacked 19 times in the first six games. His YPA dropped from 7.2 to 6.4 this year. (It would've been interesting to see how he played last week when they scrapped the no-huddle for the Jets game. He was 5/5 when he was knocked out.) I don't know if Edwards will ever have the pocket presence, ability to quickly read defenses, etc. to become a successful NFL qb, but he is young and the only qb on the Bills roster who even has the potential.