Dorkington Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Peyton Manning - Week 5 vs KC - 26/44 244 yds 0 TD 1 INT 65.0 RTG Tom Brady - Week 6 vs BAL - 27/44 292 yds 1 TD 2 INT 69.5 RTG Drew Brees - Week 7 vs CLE - 37/56 356 yds 2 TD 4 INT 65.8 RTG Etc and so on... Basically, my point of this thread is... Fitzpatrick is still having a good year. He didn't have a great game today, but I don't see it as any reason to sit around and claim that he is playing like crap, or should be benched, or should be cut, or is the worst QB, or whatever. Remember, it was AT KC, it was windy, he was under constant pressure and his WRs didn't get open as much as they did last week. He should still start next week, and until he puts together a TREND of bad games, his job should be secure, even next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Fitz has had us in position to win the last two weeks against solid teams...he's not the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthtobrint Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 (edited) The comparison made is ridiculous. Even Hall of fame quarterbacks have bad games. Kudos for pointing that out. The difference is that those three quarterbacks have established themselves over the past decade as the elites of the league. They have all won super bowls and will have busts in canton. Ryan Fitzpatrick has established himself throughout his career as a backup quarterback that can play well for stretches but makes crucial errors and has major accuracy issues. Point is taken, though, that Fitz is still playing fairly well overall. He will still be benched at some point this season even if it's not due to his play. This team's season has been over for a while now and they will want to evaluate Brohm even if he doesn't pan out. If the Bills were contending for a playoff spot with a terrific team around Fitz, sure leave him in. This team is in evaluation mode and they already know what they have in Ryan Fitzpatrick. Edited November 1, 2010 by earthtobrint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderweb Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Fitz has had us in position to win the last two weeks against solid teams...he's not the problem. Sure, while Fitz has had us in position to win 3 games (Pats, Ravens, and Chiefs), he also contributed heavily to the losses with 2 bad picks in each of the Pats and Ravens game, and his single one (yet equally horrible) today. While there is a lot of fault to be shared by the entire team, and coaches, Fitz isn't exempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Barbarian Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 The comparison made is ridiculous. Even Hall of fame quarterbacks have bad games. Kudos for pointing that out. The difference is that those three quarterbacks have established themselves over the past decade as the elites of the league. They have all won super bowls and will have busts in canton. Ryan Fitzpatrick has established himself throughout his career as a backup quarterback that can play well for stretches but makes crucial errors and has major accuracy issues. Point is taken, though, that Fitz is still playing fairly well overall. He will still be benched at some point this season even if it's not due to his play. This team's season has been over for a while now and they will want to evaluate Brohm even if he doesn't pan out. If the Bills were contending for a playoff spot with a terrific team around Fitz, sure leave him in. This team is in evaluation mode and they already know what they have in Ryan Fitzpatrick. Not going to happen nor should it. They keep playing the same guys on D because that's the best we have ( , no offense Kyle)and we know the season is over but any one who is a competitor is going to do whatever it takes to win and that is what you need to change the looser mentality we have developed from the previous decade and regime. Fitz is a good player and the longer he develops the better he will be and will prove he is our franchise QB especially when we can get some real starting tackles to protect him. Drew Brees stunk his first 3 years and then he became an all pro and he doesn't have a great arm or talent but what he has superior heart and mind and Fitz has that in spades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logical Reasoning Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Fitz throws a pass to Parrish and Chung intercepts it, but he throws the same pass (opposite side) to Evans last week and it is a touchdown. Last week, it was more man and this week it was more zone. A loss is a loss by any other name, but the reality is that with the exception of the Jets game which was bad by everyone, with a defense that we had last year we would have won all of those games. He has had to throw interceptions in order to throw the touchdowns that he has. The discussions about Fitz are going to continue because we have not had a semi good qb in such a long time but he really is fairly good and his qb rating reflects that. Instead of all of this discussion about him, we really need to talk about the defense. They are getting better but I often see linebackers getting to them four yards off the line of scrimage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akm0404 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 (edited) Spritzy is going to see a statistical correction for his passer rating/TD-INT ratio. He has plenty enough time in this league to know about where he'll end up on balance, and the book is definitely out on him. He is a high-motor journeyman quarterback who'd be a fine back-up for most NFL franchises. He is ~an 75 QB rating guy with a 50/50 TD to INT ratio. He'll make some good throws, and make some epic blunders to give away games. His heart and moxie are frequently betrayed by his inaccurate arm. He will be a great mentor for our #1 draft choice, who, if we are lucky, might turn into the NFL's next elite-level franchise quarterback. If that happens, we'll be a relevant team competing for championships for a decade. Edited November 1, 2010 by akm0404 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 Or he could end up like a Rich Gannon, who was average at best for the first few years, then started to hit his stride as he got more experience in the league. Who knows. The point of this thread is that Fitz is still having a good year, and until he makes bad/average games a *trend*, we should support him as our starting QB. He has a bad game against a good pass defense, an effective rush, on the roads and high winds and people are calling for his head left and right. Lets see how things look after week 16. If he's hovering around 90 or higher QB rating, I say we give him the starting gig going forward. If he starts dropping into the 70s and lower, lets ditch him and find a good prospect. If he's in the 80's... well, who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akm0404 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 The point of this thread is that Fitz is still having a good year, and until he makes bad/average games a *trend*, we should support him as our starting QB. Lets see how things look after week 16. If he's hovering around 90 or higher QB rating, I say we give him the starting gig going forward. If he starts dropping into the 70s and lower, lets ditch him and find a good prospect. If he's in the 80's... well, who knows. I support Spritzy as the starting QB this year and at least a portion of next year while our #1 pick gains experience in the NFL. He won't end up with a 90 QB rating, it'll probably end up in the mid 70s to lower 80s, as per his career averages. But either way, he'll be holding the clipboard in another year or so. In the meantime, we all support him trying his hardest and keeping the seat warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 I support Spritzy as the starting QB this year and at least a portion of next year while our #1 pick gains experience in the NFL. He won't end up with a 90 QB rating, it'll probably end up in the mid 70s to lower 80s, as per his career averages. But either way, he'll be holding the clipboard in another year or so. In the meantime, we all support him trying his hardest and keeping the seat warm. I'm not willing to make that prediction, to be honest. One year in Cinci and one year with the Bills as starting QB doesn't really tell me a whole lot when you turn around and this year he's hovering in the 90-100 RTG zone. It is possible for him to improve over the course of his career, and it is possible to see him perform better in one system vs another. He could end up the same as previous... or he could improve... or he could end up worse. Who knows, I can't tell the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akm0404 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 He could end up the same as previous... or he could improve... or he could end up worse. Who knows, I can't tell the future. He has a pretty significant body of work as an NFL quarterback across his many stops as a journeyman QB. Neither of us can predict the future, but I'd be willing to bet that he'll perform more along the lines of his career average than have a statistical aberration. Guess we'll see, but either way, he just makes too many blunders that lose games to be an elite-level QB. Please don't cut him though. He is useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 they already know what they have in Ryan Fitzpatrick. This convention is wrong. Nobody knew the RF that showed up in baltimore. In Jax and NE he made throws he hasn't made in the past as well. He may still turn out not to be the franchise guy, but the "know what we have, no upside arguement" is wrong, becasue he is showing improvment and may continue to improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 He has a pretty significant body of work as an NFL quarterback across his many stops as a journeyman QB. Neither of us can predict the future, but I'd be willing to bet that he'll perform more along the lines of his career average than have a statistical aberration. Guess we'll see, but either way, he just makes too many blunders that lose games to be an elite-level QB. Please don't cut him though. He is useful. He had a handful of games as a rookie (2005) on a bad Rams team. He started a decent amount of games on a bad-average Bengals team. He started here and there (2009) on a bad-average Bills team. He's started this year on a bad Bills team. This year, he's doing well. If he goes back to "normal", I agree, bench him/make him backup, whatever. Not trying to make excuses for his past years. But it's easy to get caught up in "Well, he kind of sucks" when his situations haven't been spectacular either. Right now he seems to be improving, and also playing with a better offensive coach. I'm willing to forgive his past years if he continues to show growth. And I'm not ready to throw him under the bus for a bad game here and there this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akm0404 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 He had a handful of games as a rookie (2005) on a bad Rams team. He started a decent amount of games on a bad-average Bengals team. He started here and there (2009) on a bad-average Bills team. He's started this year on a bad Bills team. This year, he's doing well. If he goes back to "normal", I agree, bench him/make him backup, whatever. Not trying to make excuses for his past years. But it's easy to get caught up in "Well, he kind of sucks" when his situations haven't been spectacular either. Right now he seems to be improving, and also playing with a better offensive coach. I'm willing to forgive his past years if he continues to show growth. And I'm not ready to throw him under the bus for a bad game here and there this year. That is all fair enough - but I don't think anyone is really throwing him under the bus. He isn't the reason we are losing these games, but he also is part of the reason that we aren't winning ANY games. He continues to make the critical gaffe that blunders away a would-be win. That is fine though, a slightly below-average quarterback is fine until our QB of the future is groomed and ready to step in. It really won't take long for a highly-touted QB prospect to play at his level though, so I'd expect that to happen about this time next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 I guess we'll just agree to disagree then. His scattered history shows below average, sure. This year shows something else. I'm willing to withhold judgement until the end of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T master Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Sure, while Fitz has had us in position to win 3 games (Pats, Ravens, and Chiefs), he also contributed heavily to the losses with 2 bad picks in each of the Pats and Ravens game, and his single one (yet equally horrible) today. While there is a lot of fault to be shared by the entire team, and coaches, Fitz isn't exempt. I agree Fitz isn't exempt but there are a lot of other positions on the team that are a hole lot worse off than QB with Fitz running the show . LB is one that jumps into mind & D line second !! Oh ya then ---- well never mind i wanted this to be a short post -- gotta go !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justnzane Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 akm by your metrics, you'd have written off Kurt Warner, Brad Johnson, Earl Morrall, Len Dawson, Jim Plunkett, Phil Simms, Mark Rypien, Steve Young, possibly Bret Farve, Trent Dilfer, and Drew Brees. All of them are Super Bowl winning quarterbacks that were capable of putting together a couple decent seasons at the least. Almost all of them struggled early in their career, but earned Pro Bowl honors (except for Plunkett) as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van_phelaN1 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 The comparison made is ridiculous. Even Hall of fame quarterbacks have bad games. Kudos for pointing that out. The difference is that those three quarterbacks have established themselves over the past decade as the elites of the league. They have all won super bowls and will have busts in canton. Ryan Fitzpatrick has established himself throughout his career as a backup quarterback that can play well for stretches but makes crucial errors and has major accuracy issues. Point is taken, though, that Fitz is still playing fairly well overall. He will still be benched at some point this season even if it's not due to his play. This team's season has been over for a while now and they will want to evaluate Brohm even if he doesn't pan out. If the Bills were contending for a playoff spot with a terrific team around Fitz, sure leave him in. This team is in evaluation mode and they already know what they have in Ryan Fitzpatrick. Well to be fair, if they already knew what they had in Ryan Fitzpatrick then he wouldn't be playing at all, Brohm would already be out there. So I think Chan is very much still evaluating Fitz. I am not saying that you are wrong in the sense that Brohm will eventually get some playing time but I disagree that Gailey already knows what he has in Fitz. His accuracy issues did hurt the team a few times on Sunday but not nearly as much as the defense does every game. Although with all the yards they gave up our boys kept them from scoring and had a couple of nice stops here and there. There are signs of growth all over this team but they still have a very long way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattsox Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Yeah Fitz has been a pleasant surprise. It makes it easier as we go into the 2011 draft not to have to worry about drafting a QB, unless the one we want is there for us to take. I personally would wait to get Andrew Luck if I am GM of the Bills. And if the team's not in that position, then I look at solidifying the lines. The Battles are won in the trenches!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All_Pro_Bills Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 That is all fair enough - but I don't think anyone is really throwing him under the bus. He isn't the reason we are losing these games, but he also is part of the reason that we aren't winning ANY games. He continues to make the critical gaffe that blunders away a would-be win. That is fine though, a slightly below-average quarterback is fine until our QB of the future is groomed and ready to step in. It really won't take long for a highly-touted QB prospect to play at his level though, so I'd expect that to happen about this time next year. I think you're description is pretty accurate and sums up his play yesterday. I personally like the guy and being kind of an underdog he's easy to root for. He's got the intelligence and moxy to be a great quarterback. But he lacks the physical skills of the tops QB's to go along with the brains and guts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts