The one that got away? Jets’ QBs have been awful since Fitzpatrick
The New York Jets have made a comically large number of mistakes this century.
Ditching Ryan Fitzpatrick after the 2016 season isn’t atop that list, but that decision certainly deserves a spot somewhere.
Of course, voiding his contract seemed like not only the smart, but the only, choice in the moment.
Fitzpatrick was, by his own admission, not good in his second and final year with the Jets, ranking last among qualifying quarterbacks in passer rating (69.6) and second-to-last in completion percentage (56.6). Plus the team went 3-8 in games he started.
“Well, we had a losing season in 2016 when I was there, so, that one ended the way it did for a reason,” Fitzpatrick said, when asked Wednesday if the Jets messed up by letting him go.
“But 2015 was a fun year.”
Not only fun — 2015 was the only moderately successful Jets season of the last decade.
They won 10 games that fall (the only time the Jets have done so since 2010) and Fitzpatrick set careerhighs in passing yards (3,905) and touchdowns (31).
Since Ryan Fitzpatrick left the Jets after the 2016 season, New York’s seven quarterbacks have gone 16-37. Fitzpatrick goes against QB Joe Flacco on Sunday.
And here’s the crazy thing: He believes he’s playing better now, at age 37, than he did then.
Fitzpatrick is coming off one of the best passing performances in recent Dolphins history — completing 22 of 28 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns last Sunday against the 49ers — and seems poised to light up a bad Jets’ defense Sunday.
“After watching last week’s game, he didn’t look 37,” said Adam Gase, the former Dolphins who is probably coaching his last season with the Jets. “When Fitzy catches fire, he’s dangerous.”
But when you take a few steps back, you get the true sense of how bad the Jets have been at that position since cutting ties with Fitzpatrick in the winter of 2017.
And how much better they could have been had they simply stuck with him.
Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the Jets have used seven different quarterbacks (including forgettable names such as Luke Falk, Trevor Siemian and Bryce Petty) who have combined to lose 37 of 53 games (for a pathetic .302 winning percentage).
Jets QBs have combined to complete 60.6 percent of their passes, throw 60 touchdowns to 51 interceptions, average 6.6 yards per attempt, manage a 3.5 percent touchdown rate, a 3.0 percent interception rate and a 79.2 cumulative passer rating.
How do Fitzpatrick’s stats over the past three seasons compare to the players the Jets picked to replace him?
Take a look:
Record as a starter? 11-17 (.393 winning percentage).
Touchdowns to interceptions? 51 to 33.
Yards per attempt? 7.7. Touchdown rate? 4.7 percent.
Interception rate? 3.1 percent.
Passer rating? 90.5. In each of those major statistical categories, Fitzpatrick has performed better than the Jets.
And this year could be his best yet.
He ranks seventh league-wide in completion percentage (70.6). He’s 13th in yards per pass
(7.9).
And while he’s 17th in passer rating (95.3), Fitzpatrick ranks fifth in
ESPN’s Total QBR at 82.5 — which he said Wednesday is a superior metric of overall quarterback play. His logic?
“I think if you throw an interception down three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, it probably shouldn’t weigh as much as throwing an interception up a score in the first quarter or with the game on the line. All the stats you can kind of accumulate when you’re behind are meaningless stats. I think being able to avoid negative plays, sacks and those sorts of things, are important for a quarterback.
“I think even just the running and the scrambles and things like that, there are a lot of things it takes into account that don’t show up on the stat sheet or they weight stats based on how important it is in the game. I think that is a lot of the reason to me as to why that one carries much greater weight for me.”
In case you were wondering, Sam Darnold, the Jets’ starter and one-time Top 5 pick, is 28th in QBR (45.4).
But New York will start an even inferior quarterback Sunday. Joe Flacco gets the nod with Darnold unavailable because of a shoulder sprain.
“I’ve become more accurate,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’ve become a better decision-maker, but more accurate in the way I’m throwing the football. I think that’s shown up a little bit this year. Also for me, it’s not about the physical anymore. I think I can still make all the throws, but it’s never really been about that for me. I’m feeling comfortable in this system, feeling comfortable with the guys I’m playing with, and right now, I’m just spreading the ball around.”