Fitzpatrick saw limited duty with STL, kota...
http://www.nfl.com/players/ryanfitzpatrick...le?id=FIT792915
And CIN was riddled with injuries - most in the league (including, eventually, 3 OL's) when Fitzpatrick was starting for Palmer. Their D was also whacked hard.
Ocho Dinko was in Year #2 of his moping and crying, too. Since he realized that he wasn't being traded, Illl say that he wasn't doing his best for their replacement QB. Far from it.
Remember the last CIN-BUF game, with Dinko short-arming to the point where TJ Housh got into face? - followed by Whitner cheap-shotting him as he was stretched out and falling? He got hauled out on the cart, went to a hospital but...somehow...recovered and caught the plane home...
Dinko is tough as nails - I've seen him take very, very hard (and cheap) hits through his years. He was dogging it last season. Evidently, he's a new man this year. (BTW, the local chit-chat was that he had a serious $ problem).
Fitzpatrick may well not be the *answer*, but I think that most folks see that he's giving all he's got. He's an improbable 2 and 0. The team is 3 - 4, and still in the race.
You can't ask more than that...