THING OF THE PASSED
Jets need Fix-patrick performance out of QB
JOE NAMATH t hrew six interceptions three times — Oct. 15, 1967; Oct. 18, 1970; and Oct. 19, 1975. So two of those came after Jan. 12, 1969, when he won Super Bowl III.
Ryan Fitzpatrick hasn’t won a Super Bowl, hasn’t even played in a playoff game, and Woody Johnson is paying him $12 million this season to lead the Jets to the playoffs for the first time since the 2010 season.
The owner is paying Fitzpatrick to win games like the one Sunday against the Seahawks, at a time when the 1-2 Jets cannot afford to lose it.
The owner is paying Fitzpatrick to stare down the first hint of adversity and show his team how the tough get going when the going gets tough. And the going has gotten tough. And the going is going to get tougher without Eric Decker.
And with road ambushes in Pittsburgh and in Arizona looming, the going will get a lot tougher if Fitzpatrick cannot get off the deck against the Legion of Boom and be the quarterback he is betting on himself to be this season.
Peyton Manning threw six interceptions on Nov. 11, 2007, in San Diego, but he had just won Super Bowl XLI against the Bears, and eventually won his second Lombardi Trophy last season in his final game.
Brett Favre threw six interceptions in the 2001 Divisional playoff game in St. Louis, but he already had won Super Bowl XXXI over Bill Parcells’ Patriots.
Norm Van Brocklin threw six interceptions as a Ram in the 1955 NFL Championship game, but five years later, in his final game, led the Eagles past Vince Lombardi and the Packers in the 1960 NFL Championship game.
Fitzpatrick isn’t Peyton Manning and he isn’t Brett Favre and he isn’t The Dutchman. He is The Journeyman, and this could be his last journey holding the keys to a franchise’s kingdom in his hands if he stumbles in his bid to finally find a home.
He was pedestrian in the home opener against the Bengals, prolific in Buffalo exorcising Rex Ryan, then horrific in Kansas City. And if the roller coaster doesn’t end, and end now, the Jets run the risk of being exposed as frauds and will be remembered as another one of those Win Now teams that didn’t Win Then.
This is hardly the ideal defense for Fitzpatrick to confront at any time, much less when he is forced to summon every ounce of his resiliency and resourcefulness.
Fitzpatrick was expected to build on his career year (31 touchdowns, 15 interceptions) in 2015, slinging the ball around the way he did to Brandon Marshall and Decker, who became the first Jets duo to break 1,000 receiving yards since Keyshawn Johnson and Wayne Chrebet in 1998.
And now? Marshall, who is not 100 percent, has yet to catch a TD pass and Richard Sherman would like to keep it that way. Decker has two games with no two catches or less and a shoulder injury will make him a spectator. Matt Forte, who caught 102 balls out of the Bears’ backfield in 2014, has caught four balls for 8 yards in Weeks 2 and 3. In the absence of a tight end option, the idea isn’t for revelation Quincy Enunwa to be Fitzpatrick’s go-to guy.
It would behoove Fitzpatrick and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey to employ Forte and Bilal Powell as checkdown options, and at least make an effort to run it in the red zone this time. Fitzpatrick should remind himself that any errant aer- ial anywhere near Sherman or Earl Thomas will prove to be a disaster.
The boobirds, undoubtedly short of pleading for Geno Smith, will be unforgiving. The $ 12 million question: Would Todd Bowles, should he find himself desperate for an in-game spark?
Beyond the search for an identity, Fitzpatrick commands a team that is straining to break free of a losing syndrome that has gripped it the previous five seasons and denied it a playoff berth. His counterpart, Russell Wilson, has led a winning culture that has seen the Seahawks reach the playoffs four consecutive seasons, reaching two Super Bowls and winning one of them.
Wilson is 55-22 (.714) as a starting quarterback; Fitzpatrick is 44-63-1 (.412). More encouraging for longsuffering Jets fans is Wilson’s 22-16 record on the road, and Fitzpatrick’s 6-3 record as a Jet at MetLife Stadium.
It is easy to root for Fitzpatrick. He is smart and tough when he is at the top of his game and a class act in the locker room. You won’t ever see any signs of panic from him. Same guy every day, even every day this week.
But this won’t be easy. It will be virtually impossible unless the $12 Million Quarterback shows up as Ryan Fixpatrick.