Ryan Fitzpatrick is THE surprise of the first NFL weeks. Actually intended as a backup, Fitzmagic suddenly breaks records on his old days. It’s not the first time the 35-year-old has played his way into the limelight from nowhere, and so the question arises: Can everything really be different this time? Or is the break-in into mediocrity following again?
If you’re interested in football – or even just sport in general – Ryan Fitzpatrick’s achievements over the last few weeks should not have gone unnoticed. The 35-year-old, who actually only represents the suspended Jameis Winston, threw himself into the highlight clips of every American sports channel, even made it into German daily newspapers and, by the way, also made it to the Internet Meme.
The Fitzmagic hype started three weeks ago against the New Orleans Saints. Fitzpatrick threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns at zero interceptions. He also scored a rushing touchdown. “My nine-year-old son, Tate, persuaded my eleven-year-old son, Brady, to put me on his fantasy football team, Fitzpatrick betrayed after the game. “I didn’t even know Brady was playing fantasy football. But I think it was a good decision.”
If the son had bet on his father also in the next weeks, this might have been an even better decision. Fitzpatrick threw a week later for 402 yards and four touchdowns at an interception against the Eagles and 411 yards and three touchdowns against the Steelers – even though the high gloss began to crumble a little after three interceptions and a defeat in this game.
Nevertheless, Fitzpatrick had made history. As the first quarterback in the 99-year history of the NFL, he had always broken the 400 yards mark in the first three games of a season. With 1,230 passing yards, he leads the league in this category by a clear margin and is on course to throw for 6,560 yards this season after three games. The current record is more than 1,000 yards below it.
It’s the best three-game series Fitzpatrick’s career has ever seen. But it’s by no means the first time he’s made it out of nowhere into the limelight with an outstanding performance. A fact that already became abundantly clear in Fitzpatrick’s first NFL game.
Drafted by the St Louis Rams in the seventh round of 2005, the rookie watched the first ten games of the season from the sidelines before starter Jamie Martin injured himself against the Houston Texans just before halftime. Fitzpatrick took over at halftime 3:24. 310 passing yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions later the Rams had a 33:27 overtime victory and Fitzpatrick had his first Player-of-the-Week award in his pocket.
Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz was thrilled with his young quarterback. Martz later explained that he had seen Fitzpatrick as a second round talent and was convinced that he had found his (new) Kurt Warner in the rookie from Harvard. When Martz had to resign his position in the middle of the season due to illness, he called only one of his players: Fitzpatrick. “Never let anyone tell you you can’t play,” Martz said. “You’re a starter in this league.”
At that time, the Rams were particularly impressed by Fitzpatrick’s accuracy, his toughness, his will to win and – of course – his intelligence. Fitzpatrick graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economics, and in the Wonderlic Test, an intelligence test that NFL teams perform prior to drafting, he scored 48 out of 50 possible points in nine minutes according to the Wall Street Journal – the best result an NFL quarterback has ever achieved (and the second best in all positions) to date.
But Martz shouldn’t be right. Despite his outstanding NFL record, Fitzpatrick was not the new Kurt Warner, not even the long-term starter for the rams it should be enough. Only two weeks after his dream debut against the Texans, Fitzpatrick came against the Vikings on 235 passing yards, zero touchdowns and threw five interceptions. A disaster. This inconsistency with extreme runaways, both upwards and downwards, was to accompany Fitzpatrick’s career to this day.
“Fitzmagic” wasn’t born until 2018. The hype turned out to be too often a lazy spell for the nickname to really establish itself. In 2011 Fitzpatrick led the chronically victorious Bills to a 5:2 season start, including a 369 yard firework victory over the actually dominant Patriots. The end of Buffalo’s playoff thirsty stretch seemed close enough to touch. But the Bills lost eight of their remaining nine games. Fitzpatrick finished the season with 23 interceptions, more than any other quarterback.
Four years later, magic was in the air again: Fitzpatrick played the statistically best season of his career, put on career highs in passing yards and touchdowns and after ten victories in the first 15 games, he already had one leg in the playoffs with the jets. But in the last game of the season “Fitzmagic” turned out to be an illusion again. Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions and brought in less than 50 percent of his passports. After a 17:22 bankruptcy against the Bills, the last playoff spot went to the Steelers.
Fitzpatrick is playing in his 14th NFL season and his next playoff would be his first at the same time. However, Fitzpatrick is by no means the only one to blame for this. In his career, the seven-time father was under contract almost exclusively to unsuccessful and less talented teams. All seven teams engaged Fitzpatrick in his career with the plan to make him the backup quarterback. In the end, he started for each one of them, either because of injuries or because of poor performance by the number one.
“This game is hard, I can see that realistically. I threw six touchdowns in one game. I threw six interceptions in one game,” says Fitzpatrick, admitting his inconsistency himself. “This game varies from week to week. You should be aware of that.”
Jameis Winston returns to the team this week after a three-game suspension. The open question now is: Will Winston start or will Fitzpatrick keep his role? And if the latter occurs, the follow-up question: how long can he stand before Winston? One thing is clear: one can confidently assume that the 35-year-old sees himself as the better answer to this question.
Despite his countless ups and downs, he is convinced that Martz was right in his first professional season. “He thinks he’s as good as the ten or 15 best quarterbacks on the planet,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy reveals. “He definitely doesn’t lack self-confidence.”
An assessment that many of his fellow players apparently share, at least in principles. “You have to acknowledge the way the team gathers behind him and simply plays outstanding football,” DeSean Jackson believes. “You can’t take out the player who’s hot right now.”
Fitzpatrick is considered a “Locker Room Guy”, his teammates like him – not only in Tampa Bay. In Buffalo, teammates joked that Fitzpatrick always showed up for training in T-shirts that were too small, so he wore belly-free afterwards. He also got his nickname “Amish Rifle” from his fellow players, and with the Bucs Fitzpatrick attracted attention by rubbing his beard against that of his fellow player Evan Smith or borrowing Jackson’s clothes for the press conference.
“He has the rare ability to get along with virtually anyone,” reveals Scott Chandler, who played the tight end with Fitzpatrick in Buffalo. “I don’t think there are many players who have played with him and don’t think they’re pretty good friends with him. I don’t think he’s ever made an enemy of himself.”
In the spirit of the team player, Fitzpatrick is relaxed even before the announcement of the decision in the QB question of the Bucs. “I’m having so much fun playing this game. I have so much fun playing with these guys and I’m here to do everything that helps this team win games.”
Head Coach Dirk Koetter doesn’t want to be seen in the cards at the moment. “We know what we’re going to do. Both guys know what we’re going to do,” he said on Tuesday. “I hope everyone can understand that telling our opponent what we’re up to isn’t exactly helping.”
Whatever the decision, Fitzpatrick remains calm: “I just try to enjoy it all. I’ve had so many ups and downs in my career. If it goes well, you’ll learn to enjoy it.”
Fitzpatrick’s current high will last at least until Sunday. What follows is written in the stars. The roller coaster ride continues.