A TWIST OF FAITH
After victory, Fitzpatrick calls out execs, coach for not believing in him
After 60 minutes of football between the Jets and Ravens, it was a quarterback who delivered the biggest hit of the day in a postgame interview.
Ryan Fitzpatrick had something to say that will reverberate throughout the Jets organization. After getting benched this week, Fitzpatrick replaced an injured Geno Smith in a 24-16 win over the Ravens. He revealed some hurt feelings after the game.
“The biggest thing in this game in order to last is to have belief in yourself,” Fitzpatrick said, “because when the owner stops believing in you and the GM stops believing in you and the coaches stop believing in you, sometimes all you have is yourself.” Ouch. So he believes Woody Johnson, Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles have all lost belief in him?
“When you get put on the bench, I think that’s the reason why,” said Fitzpatrick, who signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the Jets this summer.
Even when the Jets win, it is messy.
The topic after this game should have been the Jets ending a fourgame losing skid and improving to 2-5 with a balanced attack that saw the defense set a team record by holding the Ravens to 6 rushing yards, create three turnovers and offensively featured Matt Forte gaining 154 yards from scrimmage. Instead, Fitzpatrick baring his soul and how hurt he is took the spotlight.
In a twist that could only happen to the Jets, Smith injured his right knee when he was sacked in the second quarter by Matthew Judon with the Jets trailing 13-7. Fitzpatrick entered the game with 4:34 left in the first half and led the Jets on a seven-play touchdown drive to take a 14-13 lead. He was 4-for-4 on the drive, including the 13-yard touchdown pass to Forte. Five days after getting benched, Fitzpatrick was back in the saddle, something even his teammates laughed about when he got into the huddle.
In the postgame interview, he repeatedly made reference to the organization giving up on him.
“People giving up on you and then having to see them every day, that stuff is not the easiest in the world,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s something you try to deal with as mature as you can and move on.”
Now, the Jets have another quarterback decision on their hands. Smith will have an MRI exam on Monday to see the extent of his knee injury, but it is not believed to be serious. Smith said he was begging to return to the game, but the doctors kept him out for precautionary reasons. Smith, making his first start in two years, completed 4-of-8 passes for 95 yards and one touchdown while he was in there. Fitzpatrick went 9-for-14 for 120 yards and one touchdown.
Bowles was noncommittal after the game about who his quarterback would be next week in Cleveland.
“It’s too early to tell right now,” Bowles said. “I’ll see what [Smith’s] injury status is before I make that determination.”
While Fitzpatrick clearly believes Jets’ management has lost faith in him, he feels he “should start every week” and that this teammates still have his back.
“I think my teammates believing in me is a big thing,” Fitzpatrick said. “Their opinion of me … that’s what drives me and what matters. So, I know I still have that belief in the huddle. That’s important to me.”
Fitzpatrick said if he gets to play again, he is going in with an underdog attitude.
“I probably play better as an un- derdog pissed off,” Fitzpatrick said. “Going forward, yeah, I’ll be pissed off.”
The Jets did not rely on either Smith or Fitzpatrick to win it. Instead, they got back to what worked so well last year when they played strong defense. The Ravens held a 16-14 lead at halftime after Just Tucker’s third field goal of the game.
In the second half, the Jets’ defense showed new life. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco had his streak of 176 passes without an interception snapped when Buster Skrine picked off a pass with 7:16 left in the third quarter. Skrine returned it 51 yards to the Ravens’ 3yard line, but on a drive that included a killer delay of game penalty, the Jets failed to punch it in from there, settling for a 22-yard Nick Folk field goal, giving the Jets a 17-16 lead.
Flacco’s next streak without an interception lasted just one pass. On the Ravens’ next series, Flacco floated a third-and-10 pass that Jets safety Marcus Gilchrist came down with and returned to the Ravens’ 24.
The Jets marched to the Baltimore 6 before Forte fumbled the ball at the 3-yard line. Ravens defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan picked the ball up instead of just falling on it and then fumbled when Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall forced the ball out. Marshall recovered at the 5 and the Jets had a first down. Forte scored from the 1 three plays later, his second touchdown of the day to put the Jets up 24-16.