RYAN FITZPATRICK VS PHI – 35/58, 283 YARDS, 2 TD, 3 INT

Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Arm AKA the Bad Parts of Ryan Fitzpatrick

Arm is really simplifying the issues with Fitzpatrick, but it’s the best football description for the problem at hand, which is his throwing. Fitzpatrick has the awful tendencies of having erratic accuracy across all placements in the field that when paired up with his decisions to throw into traffic and coverage lead to a lot of turnover potential.

Predetermination

2-10-NYJ 27 (9:12) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass short left to 30-Z.Stacy to NYJ 30 for 3 yards (58-J.Hicks).

Fitzpatrick has shown the tendency to predetermine his throws on plays where the read isn’t given to him. Here, despite having a clean pocket to throw from he immediately decides on the checkdown before looking elsewhere. Meanwhile the center of the field has a wide open WR running up the seam. It’s not an issue so much that he missed that player, since he may have missed it regardless depending on what progression he chose, but seeing as he dropped back looking down the center, noticed the coverage flowing toward that side, and still chose to throw to it without checking the other side is leaving plays on the field.

It’s impossible for a quarterback to see a receiver every time they’re open but it’s another issue altogether when they don’t even look, despite having the time to, as Fitzpatrick does here from a pretty clean pocket.

3-2-NYJ 30 (10:58) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete short left to 11-J.Kerley.

Here’s where pre-determination gets dangerous, just like in the first play regarding the basics clicking for Fitzpatrick, he drops back immediately looking at the receiver. However, this time the corner takes the moment to glance in Fitzpatrick’s direction, resulting in him diagnosing where this throw is going before Fitzpatrick is even throwing this ball. The lack of nuance in Fitzpatrick’s dropback (like looking down the field as he drops back) could’ve resulted in an interception if he hadn’t thrown this ball way outside of catchable range.

3-5-PHI 47 (15:00) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete short right to 15-B.Marshall. PENALTY on PHI-31-B.Maxwell, Defensive Holding, 5 yards, enforced at PHI 47 - No Play.

One of the constants of Fitzpatrick’s game is a focus on Brandon Marshall. On one hand, their chemistry together has resulted in big plays but on the other hand Fitzpatrick’s tunnel-vision in forcing him the ball keeps him from seeing the play in front of him. Here, Fitzpatrick starts off looking at his left and once he confirms the man coverage (that’s what i’m assuming he’s doing), he turns and throws immediately to Marshall. Marshall won’t catch this as a result of the physical play from the DB (which draws the flag) but on the other side of the field, two different players are open, one heading vertically up the field and the other doing a whip route on the 38 yard line. Being that Fitzpatrick was already looking at that side of the field from the start of the play, why didn’t he just stick to it? Especially considering the Eagles only had one deep defender, who was on the opposite side of the field.

This play is inconsequential thanks to a holding call, but it’s easy to imagine a scenario where this flag just isn’t thrown (as it happens often in the NFL) and his decision to throw to Marshall on 3rd down, instead of reading the coverage he’s given, results in the end of this drive.

Accuracy Issues

It’s exactly as it sounds. In total, i counted 3 passes that should have been intercepted (one of which was, the other two weren’t) and 11 passes where Ryan Fitzpatrick’s bad throw made the ball either uncatchable or far more difficult to catch than it should have been.

2-10-NYJ 37 (3:27) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass short right to 11-J.Kerley to NYJ 46 for 9 yards (27-M.Jenkins).

Let’s start with the least of the bad and progress into the bigger errors.

Here’s a simple play. Fitzpatrick has Jeremy Kerley, who has a decent separation from his player on a vertical route up the middle. There’s about 15 yards of space between Kerley and the Eagles safety the moment Fitzpatrick enters his throwing motion, and absolutely no one can even attempt to make contact with this ball, if this ball is thrown ahead of Kerley. In fact, if it’s thrown ahead of Kerley he’s likely running up the field for an extra 10+ yards given the large amount of open space he has. Instead, Fitzpatrick throws this behind Kerley, forcing him to slow down a step and giving his man, that he’s already beat, a chance to recover and tackle him.

2-10-PHI 38 (2:49) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete short left to 29-B.Powell.

2-7-PHI 39 (14:15) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass short left to 85-J.Cumberland to PHI 34 for 5 yards (59-D.Ryans).

What’s there to say about these throws? Under minimal duress, Fitzpatrick is throwing completely wide of open receivers in the short area of the field. If you think the accuracy issues stop there, wait till you get a load of this:

3-8-NYJ 35 (12:48) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete short right to 81-Q.Enunwa [98-C.Barwin].

3-7-NYJ 30 (8:30) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete short right to 11-J.Kerley. New York Jets challenged the incomplete pass ruling, and the play was Upheld. The ruling on the field was confirmed. (Timeout #1.)

1-10-PHI 30 (6:37) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete short left to 11-J.Kerley.

These throws don’t even give the receivers a chance for a play on the ball. The receivers are left at the mercy of Fitzpatrick’s unreliable arm despite getting separation on their routes. The last throw even pulls Jeremy Kerley back into the defender he’s just beaten.

But wait, it gets worse.

2-10-NYJ 43 (11:17) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete deep middle to 81-Q.Enunwa.

2-12-NYJ 35 (1:18) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass deep middle to 81-Q.Enunwa to PHI 39 for 26 yards (31-B.Maxwell).

Although this second play will likely end up being the highlight of Quincy Enunwa’s 2015 season, this is another horribly misplaced throw. Despite the space ahead of Enunwa, Fitzpatrick again chooses to throw way behind the receiver forcing an incredibly athletic catch in the middle of the field. Enunwa somehow is able to get up, stay up while two defenders attack him and get more yardage, but none of that comes from any help that Fitzpatrick gave him on this throw. Depending on your WRs to make athletic catches like this consistently (like in the previous 3) is unrealistic.

But wait! There’s still more!

3-10-NYJ 43 (11:12) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete deep left to 19-D.Smith.

3-5-PHI 30 (7:17) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass deep left intended for 19-D.Smith INTERCEPTED by 32-E.Rowe at PHI 0. Touchback. Penalty on NYJ-68-B.Giacomini, Illegal Formation, declined.

These two throws to Devin Smith show the same trait, an open Devin Smith with open field directly ahead of him has a ball underthrown on him that causes him to go into damage control. In the first throw, Devin Smith’s able to get his hands on the ball and keep this from being an uncontested potential INT, but in the second one he can’t get his hands on it and the corner takes it away. This is all on Fitzpatrick being unable to push this ball down the field as far as it needs to go.

But these aren’t even the worst two of the Devin Smith misses. This next throw is by far the worst play of the game for Fitzpatrick.

1-10-NYJ 30 (2:06) (Shotgun) 14-R.Fitzpatrick pass incomplete deep middle to 19-D.Smith.

With his eyes staring down the field, Fitzpatrick should notice that the cover-2 pre-snap has rotated into a cover-3. He should know that means that Devin Smith will be running into deep coverage, and he can see that he has both a man trailing him and another deep man ahead of him. He should notice that in the same throwing lane that he’s using to look at Devin Smth, another Jets receiver is open at near the 50 yard line. Instead, Fitzpatrick is going to throw this into double coverage and into a spot where Devin Smith doesn’t even have the chance to get this ball.

What should have been an easy double post read is instead a nearly intercepted ball thrown into double coverage. The worst of it all is that Fitzpatrick does it while under no pressure.