The Ten Worst Regular Season QB Performances. 10: Ryan Fitzpatrick Week 17 at Buffalo Bills

Poor Throw Placement

Pass #7

Situation: 3rd and 8 NYJ 22
Description: Q1-(5:04) R. Fitzpatrick Pass Short Left to E. Decker to NYJ 21 for -1 Yards (C. Graham, M. Butler)

This pass could have been included in the Passing Under Pressure Category but it also fits in this category as well. The Jets are running a common slant/flare route combination with Thompkins (#10) and Decker (#87). With Robey (#37) coming off the edge on a blitz, Graham (#20) is responsible in getting into the flat and cover Decker on the flare route. Thompkins’ slant route does a natural rub and Decker is open in the flat. Fitzpatrick makes a good read in going to Decker, but Fitzpatrick, again, gets spooked by the pass rush as Robey is bearing down on him. Robey is coming from a good distance away and Fitzpatrick has time to step into a throw. Fitzpatrick may get hit hard by Robey right after he throws the pass, but NFL QBs have to show guts and take the hit. Instead, he fades on the throw and is falling backward as he throws the pass. This combined with the wind (it was around 20 mph) caused this ball to be underthrown and while Decker does make the catch, the extension to make the catch causes him to stumble and gives the Bills enough time to rally down and make a tackle for a loss. If this throw is accurate, Decker is going to get a first down on this play

Pass #8

Situation: 2nd and 10 BUF 21
Description: Q3-(1:19) R. Fitzpatrick Pass Incomplete Short Left to B. Marshall (L. McKelvin)

Fitzpatrick does make the right read on this play. Marshall (#15) has McKelvin (#21) matched up on him in man coverage and McKelvin is bailing in his man coverage. This opens up Marshall on the out route and Fitzpatrick does the smart thing in going to him. When Fitzpatrick tries to make this throw, Dareus (#99) is getting some pressure on Fitzpatrick as he is getting around LG James Carpenter (#77) but he isn’t close enough to hit Fitzpatrick. But the pass rush affects Fitzpatrick again as he doesn’t get all his momentum going forward on the throw. This causes the pass to float a bit and forces Marshall to jump to make the catch. This jump allows McKelvin to tackle him out of bounds to force the incompletion. This isn’t the easiest pass to make with the pass rush, but Fitzpatrick should have been able to throw a lower pass which would have allowed Marshall to keep his feet on the ground and make the catch.

Pass #9

Situation: 3rd and 1 NYJ 27
Description: Q4-(0:17) R. Fitzpatrick Pass Deep Middle Intended for E. Decker Intercepted by A. Tarpley at NYJ 43. A. Tarpley to NYJ 40 for 3 Yards

I almost put this play in its own special category because this I can’t explain the thought process going through Fitzpatrick’s head. Decker (#87) does get open on the curl route underneath as Tarpley (#59) is playing inside of him in coverage and Robey (#37) is tracking underneath of Marshall’s post route. Any throw to Decker has to be to his outside though as to avoid Tarpley, allow Decker to turn upfield, and let Decker have a chance to get out of bounds. Fitzpatrick (for some reason I do not understand) steps up into the pocket. This is a problem because while Bryant (#97) and Dareus (#99) aren’t getting pressure on Fitzpatrick, they are pushing the center of the offensive line backward. When Fitzpatrick steps up, he runs straight into the back of RG Brian Winters (#67) and C Nick Mangold (#74). This forces Fitzpatrick to throw off his back foot and the pass is wildly errant as it’s not even in the same zip code as Decker.

It may not look like a lot on the picture, but the throw is off by at least five yards (the green dashed arrow is where the ball should have been thrown). That is a lot for an NFL QB. Tarpley has to stretch out to his inside shoulder to catch this ball because of how poorly thrown the pass is. Maybe Fitzpatrick expected Decker to cross Tarpley’s face but even if Decker tried to, there was no way Decker had a chance to catch this pass. This was the worst throw of the game for Fitzpatrick and it was a fitting end to one of the worst fourth-quarter implosions I have ever seen.

Dropped Passes

Pass #10

Situation: 2nd and 8 NYJ 22
Description: Q1-(5:09) R. Fitzpatrick Pass Incomplete Short Left to B. Marshall

I have been ragging on Fitzpatrick throughout this article (for very valid reasons) but Fitzpatrick did not get a lot of help from his WRs as I counted at least four dropped passes. On this play, Fitzpatrick does everything right as he takes advantage of a mismatch on the outside. Marshall (#15) has Butler (#39) on him in man coverage and Butler is bailing on his drop back. This bailing drop back means Marshall’s comeback route is going to be open over 90% of the time. Fitzpatrick sees this and throws a perfectly timed pass as it is in the air as Marshall is making his break in his route. The wind does cause the ball to dip at the end of the pass but this should be a catch Marshall makes 10/10 times. The ball bounces off Marshall’s hands though and that is inexcusable for a WR of his caliber.

Pass #11

Situation: 3rd and 10 BUF 22
Description: Q2-(12:11) R. Fitzpatrick Pass Incomplete Deep Middle to E. Decker

There are quite a few things Fitzpatrick does wrong mechanically on this play. He is drifting away from the direction of his throw to Decker (#87) and he is throwing off his back foot. This causes the throw to be low but the ball is in a very catchable spot and Decker is a good enough receiver to make this catch. Decker lets this pass bounce off his hands and fall incomplete, though. This wasn’t the most egregious drop or error in the game for the Jets’ WRs but it may have been the most important one. K Randy Bullock misses a 40 yard FG after this drop and the Jets end up with no points on this drive. If Decker catches this pass, the Jets have first and goal from inside the five and have a great chance to punch it in for a touchdown. The Jets only lost by five, so a missed opportunity like this looms large and plays like this cost the Jets a playoff berth.

Overall Impressions

Fitzpatrick had a roller coaster of a game. He had a rough first quarter, a pretty good middle of the game, and a fourth quarter collapse that was as epic as it was horrifying to watch. Fitzpatrick didn’t get a whole lot of help in this game from his WRs and the Bills were able to get a good amount of pressure on him, but the brunt of the blame for his poor performance has to be laid on Fitzpatrick’ss shoulder. Any semblance of pressure on him would cause him to rush his throw and his mechanics would become awful. In the fourth quarter, he locked on to WRs and wouldn’t look off his first read. This cost him multiple opportunities to exploit the Bills coverage and he missed at least one touchdown because of this. Fitzpatrick was relying on his mental clock too much in the pocket and would scramble into worse positions instead of sitting in the pocket and scanning the field. His accuracy on this throws was poor at times due to his mechanics being awful and he didn’t have the arm strength to cut through the strong wind. It’s not a coincidence that Fitzpatrick’s worst quarters (1st and 4th) were into the direction of the wind. He has never had a strong arm and in the face of 20 mph winds, his passes had a tendency to dip and die when they were approaching the WR.

This game gives fuel to Fitzpatrick’s critics, but I don’t think one game should define Fitzpatrick’s season. Even in this game, he showed some very positive things when he was going into the direction of the wind. He made some very decisive decisions, took advantage of the Bills blitzing on both his touchdown passes, and showed that he could push the ball deep from time to time. I also don’t think that this performance was in the bottom ten performances based on the film. But this game also showed off his limitations as he has the borderline NFL arm strength (not Chad Pennington weak but closer to him than Jay Cutler) and he will at times act like a rookie and panic when his first read doesn’t open up. I think Fitzpatrick deserves another chance to start for the Jets based on his season, but games like these make me tepid about how far the Jets can go with him at quarterback.