K-9 Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 IIRC, Fitz missed the first practice of the week after the Redskins game due to "ribs" as noted on the official injury report. Anyone who would think that teams don't deliberately under-report or keep quiet about injuries on a regular basis just doesn't know how the game is played. That's been going on since the days of leather helmets. It's one thing to comply with league rules regarding players that miss practice due to injury and another thing entirely to disclose injuries to players that don't miss practice. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Or maybe, just maybe, he is telling the truth. I know that's a radical and unpopular thought here. Oh come on - you act like not reporting a cracked rib is a grand conspiracy. Either way, he was hurt in the rib cage area, and were really just discussing extent. Why would any coach/gm want to detail that? To placate angry fans as bpa suggested earlier? Seems silly. I'd bet near half the team had some unreported crack/sprain/concussion/injury that can effect play but be hidden. Stevies list alone was huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolbox Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Were his ribs hurt for the 34 games he played prior to this season? He has never, over an extended sample of games, been anything but completely ordinary or sub average statistically. You really don't need to invent injuries to his ribs, offseason (or lack of it) excuses, injuries to others excuses, etc. He has always been average to sub-average. That is probably why, after being ranked 31st in the league after starting 15 games for Cincinnati, they let him go. Thats probably why he was avergage last year. That's probably why, after a hot start, he came back to his "true" proven form of....average. You cannot wish him to be a good QB. It's simply not true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KollegeStudnet Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Fitz has been here for awhile now...even if he did play hurt, do you see Fitz as a Super Bowl caliber QB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Were his ribs hurt for the 34 games he played prior to this season? He has never, over an extended sample of games, been anything but completely ordinary or sub average statistically. You really don't need to invent injuries to his ribs, offseason (or lack of it) excuses, injuries to others excuses, etc. He has always been average to sub-average. That is probably why, after being ranked 31st in the league after starting 15 games for Cincinnati, they let him go. Thats probably why he was avergage last year. That's probably why, after a hot start, he came back to his "true" proven form of....average. You cannot wish him to be a good QB. It's simply not true. Though I dont argue that point, I'll again reference that a rib injury certainly wouldn't help him any either. I mean this in a sense of 3-4 headscratchers becoming 5-6 in a game and then the loss of wood/Jackson/an injured Stevie adding some more trouble making a middle of the pack guy look bottom tier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeF Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Fitz has been here for awhile now...even if he did play hurt, do you see Fitz as a Super Bowl caliber QB? Did anyone see Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson and Kurt Warner as SB caliber (Warner now but not then)? All won it in the last 10 years--no one saw them as SB QB's when they won. Martz said Fitz was like Warner when he coached him...same mental make up and athletic ability. Aikman beat us twice but Jeff Hostetler and Mark Rypien both beat us as well... No argument that a great QB makes the path easier but Fitz has talent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 So the OP is alerting us to the "quiet mention" of an "unpublicized injury"? Cool. Anyway, of Fitz had a significant rib injury, my guess is that he would be getting a nerve block before each game to minimize the impact of the injury. And any suugestion that a team would "hide" the injury in order to protect their QB from a defender's exploitation of that injury makes no sense. Any defensive player who has a clean shot at the QB is going to hit hit as hard as he can, likely in the ribs, every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGB Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Your point may be true. I don't understand why the entire team including the Quarterback would hide a injury? We were certainly not challenging for dominance in the league. Were we afraid of big bad opposing lineman zeroing in on our Quarterback? That's what backups QB's are paid for. Do you risk further injury to your 59 million dollar man? I doubt it. Then again thigpen can hardly be called a quality backup. For the first 7 games Fitz passer rating was 98.4 and the Bills had a record of 5-2. After Fitz was hit in Toronto, he was just terrible down the stretch – throwing 17 ints to 10 TDs with a passer rating of only 65.2. Not sure, but it looks like Gailey must have thought Thigpen could not come in and contribute. So what happens? The Bills to lose their next 8 out of 9 games. Who is to blame for the lost season? Chan is to blame. Letting Fitz play hurt and stinking it up and not having an adequate backup QB is the coaches fault. Edited March 11, 2012 by LGB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Barbarian Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 FITz WAS asked straight out " do you have broken ribs?" and he said NO.. BUT NO ONE ASKED IF HE HAD CRACKED OR BRUISED RIBS, They should have asked him if he had a "bruised" shoulder cuz his accuracy and deep ball went down the tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddenboy Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Maybe he LIED about an injury in his interview with his new CFL employers. As an excuse for sucking as a qb coach. Maybe the CFL team "leaked" it to the press, in case fans are wondering why they hired a sucky qb coach. Maybe he knows that the Bills will never confirm or deny, so he's safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsBytheBay Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Players always say that everyone is playing hurt. Maybe for Fitz its along those lines. The nature of his Injury maybe closer to the side of "hurt" and not "injured". Fitz knows whos on the bench behind him. If Thigpen hade to take over it would have been even worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdand12 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I recall the question being posed to Fitz and he said something about "i only missed one practice so i wasn't on the injury report was i? " or something to that effect. I suppose after watching his play immediately post Fletcher and seeing that something sure happened and then that little blurb had me sure that he was injured. I am not sure the OP was trying to say he played poorly because of the injury. Just saying it was significant and Fitz played through whatever the issue was. From my point of viewing something changed after London wailed him. I watched the games and he looked purty darn good early on. Still Fitz of course. But he was hitting some routes very well. and after that shot he was not so good at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 There's three possible outcomes of the Fletcher hit: 1) It didn't affect Fitz' play at all. 2) It affected his play greatly. 3) Somewhere in between. Probably #3 is more likely than 1 or 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillnutinHouston Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Thanks for posting. On top of what you pointed out, it says that Cortez "won't make the $400,000 he made in Buffalo." That's more than I would have thought the team would pay our quarterbacks coach. On top of what they were paying Gailey, OC Modkins, DC Edwards (now departed) and Asst. Head Coach Wannstedt… that's a fair amount of money tied up in coaching. This, plus Buddy's continued insistence that they will spend up to the cap, is further proof.....Ralph is cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobu Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) Fitz has been here for awhile now...even if he did play hurt, do you see Fitz as a Super Bowl caliber QB? I bet you knew Jim Plunkett, Brad Johnson, Trent Dilfer, Kurt Warner, Mark Rypien, John Elway, etc. were all Super Bowl Caliber QB's before they actually brought home the Lombardi too.... You are better than Miss Cleo. What is your 900 number? Edited January 11, 2012 by Show Me The Baby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ko12010 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 One of the frustrating things about people dogging Fitz is they forget QB's who took longer to develop into great ones. Just because Cincy let him go and he didn't work out in St Louis doesn't = Ryan Fitzpatrick is not good. It's not so black and white and fans forget that all the time. Everyone clamors for the Bills front office to find our Brady or Rodgers. Do you people not understand that the situation a player is thrown into usually outweighs their talent? If Brady is taken by anyone but the Pats coached by Belicheck I fully believe he doesn't last more than a few years in the league. Say Rodgers gets taken by us or by some other backward franchise, I guarantee he is nothing special. Coaches/franchise situations/front office trumps an individual player's talent. If Trent or J.P. were taken by a franchise who was not rebuilding and had things in order, I believe they had a chance to be successful. I honestly believe this. The situations our QB's have been in post Kelly have been impossible for them to succeed in, just impossible. Ryan Fitzpatrick is right now, middle of the pack QB in the NFL. I think his talent, while not elite 1st round measurables, could allow him to become the 5th or 6th best QB in the NFL IF the Buffalo Bills continue to turn this roster around, which I believe Nix, Whaley, and Gailey are doing. All of you people who believe that finding a "franchise" QB and ditching Ryan are dead wrong. Look at Drew Brees (I know this is not a typical situation) What was it, 28 starts or 30ish starts before he started to look like the man? Ryans around that # and it finally looks like he will be in a SITUATION in Buffalo where a QB even has the chance to succeed. Maybe I'll look like an idiot this time next year for vouching for Ryan Fitzpatrick, but if we have a great offseason, which I think we will, I truly believe he will have an awesome year in 2012 and be unanimously in the top 10 at his position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I heard rumors about a month ago that he was injured, and now another mention. Makes sense considering the sharp drop-off in play after the Skins game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanInUticaTampa Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 If he had broken ribs then no way would they have him throw as much as they did. Unless gailey is crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gray Beard Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 One of the frustrating things about people dogging Fitz is they forget QB's who took longer to develop into great ones. Just because Cincy let him go and he didn't work out in St Louis doesn't = Ryan Fitzpatrick is not good. It's not so black and white and fans forget that all the time. Everyone clamors for the Bills front office to find our Brady or Rodgers. Do you people not understand that the situation a player is thrown into usually outweighs their talent? If Brady is taken by anyone but the Pats coached by Belicheck I fully believe he doesn't last more than a few years in the league. Say Rodgers gets taken by us or by some other backward franchise, I guarantee he is nothing special. Coaches/franchise situations/front office trumps an individual player's talent. If Trent or J.P. were taken by a franchise who was not rebuilding and had things in order, I believe they had a chance to be successful. I honestly believe this. The situations our QB's have been in post Kelly have been impossible for them to succeed in, just impossible. Ryan Fitzpatrick is right now, middle of the pack QB in the NFL. I think his talent, while not elite 1st round measurables, could allow him to become the 5th or 6th best QB in the NFL IF the Buffalo Bills continue to turn this roster around, which I believe Nix, Whaley, and Gailey are doing. All of you people who believe that finding a "franchise" QB and ditching Ryan are dead wrong. Look at Drew Brees (I know this is not a typical situation) What was it, 28 starts or 30ish starts before he started to look like the man? Ryans around that # and it finally looks like he will be in a SITUATION in Buffalo where a QB even has the chance to succeed. Maybe I'll look like an idiot this time next year for vouching for Ryan Fitzpatrick, but if we have a great offseason, which I think we will, I truly believe he will have an awesome year in 2012 and be unanimously in the top 10 at his position. I don't disagree with your assertions. I am not quite as optimistic as you, but in general I think you are more right than wrong. I don't think Fitz has the accuracy, strength or quick release that some of the best QBs have. I am not saying he is bad in those respects, just not as good as some others. He was running around to keep the play alive for the last few games of the season, which I think is a good idea since the O-line isn't reliable enough to give him all the time he needs for anything other than a quick slant, etc. Unfortunately, his accuracy goes from marginal to poor when he has to throw on the run. But with more playing time as a group, Fitz and the team will all get better and good things will happen sooner rather than later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdand12 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 If he had broken ribs then no way would they have him throw as much as they did. Unless gailey is crazy "Unless gailey is crazy" And that is a reasonable concern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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