Ryan Fitzpatrick and Joe Namath are very rarely even mentioned in the same sentence. And while most times it’d be an honor, it’s understandable if the former would rather disassociate himself from the latter following Sunday’s horrific performance in Kansas City. The Jets (1-2) are still in shock from Fitzpatrick’s six-interception afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium, as the journeyman signal caller matched the Hall of Famer for the franchise’s single-game mark. Namath did it three different times, so it’s safe to say that Fitzpatrick will try to avoid matching such futility. As bad as the Jets – and most notably the quarterback – were, Gang Green was still in the game midway through the final quarter. The turnovers were too much to overcome, though, in what ended up being a statistical anomaly. The Chiefs (2-1) forced eight turnovers without recording a sack. That type of oddity hadn’t happened in nearly 40 years, with the last time being Week 13 in 1977. That’s just how rare Sunday’s performance was. And something that’s unlikely to happen again this season for the Jets. But even with the admission that they “lost the game on my performance,” Fitzpatrick deemed that the sky isn’t falling.
“That was evident,” Fitzpatrick said, alluding to the fact that his half-dozen interceptions cost the Jets. “But it’s not all doom and gloom.”
The last time he committed as many turnovers, Fitzpatrick was a rookie – the 250th pick – and realistically wondering if he belonged in this league. But now, as a grizzled veteran who has seen essentially every scenario unfold during a career that began in 2005 and spanned six different franchises, he’s taking a glass half-full approach and refuses to push the panic button. Sure, in just one week, he went from Fitz Magic to Fitz Tragic, but the veteran knows how fickle and fleeting NFL success is.
Fitz happens. And he’s now ready to move on from that debacle.
“It was so bad and there were so many poor things on my part that happened in that game that you want to put it behind you as fast as you can,” Fitzpatrick said.
Head coach Todd Bowles noted that he said his piece to the team and is also ready to move on from Kansas City and start looking ahead to Sunday’s home tilt against the Seattle Seahawks.
Before he deemed it time to move on, Bowles gave high praise to a Chiefs defense that is spearheaded by an old friend, defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. The two were on the same Jets staff in 2000 where Bowles was the defensive backs coach and Sutton the linebackers coach. Bowles complimented Kansas City for their aggressive ball-hawking nature, particularly Marcus Peters. But while praising the second-year cornerback, Bowles might’ve also shed some light on how the Jets plan on attacking Seattle’s famed Legion of Doom secondary, which is led by All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman. “He [Peters] is an All-Pro corner,” said Bowles. “But we don’t shy away from anybody. We’ll always run our normal offense … we just throw to our progression. We’re not trying to target anybody one way or the other.” It’ll be interesting to see just how much Fitzpatrick and co. have shaken free of Sunday’s nightmare game, and how they’ll attack one of history’s greatest secondary units.
Gang Green notes:
Jets still trying to make sense of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s six interception performance
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