TIME TRAVELERS
Newest Jets journeyman quarterback faces former
TAMPA, Fla. — It’s a good life, even if it takes you and your family from this city to that city, a rewarding life in more ways than financial because of all the relationships and friendships you build along the way through the years.
You get to play the game you love, even if most of your Sundays are spent watching the franchise’s favorite son play it. But they all aren’t Eli Manning. They all don’t play every game on the schedule. You can get your football fix at a moment’s notice and feed the competitor beast inside you.
And if he is lucky, the Journeyman Quarterback can find himself embarking on a dream journey in which he wins the trust of a general manager and a head coach to be the face of their franchise, for however long it lasts.
Ryan Fitzpatrick was the Jets’ $12 Million Man in 2016.
Josh McCown is the Jets’ $6 Million Man in 2017.
They weren’t supposed to be his team, but McCown has made them his team, and on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium, he tries to get the Jets to 5-5 and dreaming playoffs before the bye in the Battle of Journeymen Quarterbacks:
McCown, who has played for 10 NFL teams.
Fitzpatrick, who has played for seven. Whose job on Sunday will be to hold the fort for Jameis Winston (shoulder) and get the reeling Buccaneers to 3-6.
If these “Dance Fever” Jets truly have designs on a most improbable wild-card playoff berth, win this game. Win this game against the Backup Journeyman
Quarterback who will be missing his best weapon, receiver Mike Evans. Give Fitz Fits. “If you know a player, you know how he plays, and you can prepare for it better,” Leonard Williams told The Post. “Even though we’re gonna still watch film on him and figure out what more we can figure out, for the guys that were here with him, we pretty much know him and the way he plays, so it’s gonna be a little bit easier.”
It will be a lot easier if Fitzpatrick morphs back into the interception machine he was with the playoffs on the line in Buffalo at the end of a career season in 2015, and at Kansas City 14 months ago when he authored a personal pick six. It was the beginning of the end of his Jets journey.
McCown’s one-and-done 2014 season with the Bucs was sabotaged when thenoffensive coordinator Jeff Tedford experienced heart issues during preseason and quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo, an NFL rookie no less, became the default play-caller for coach Lovie Smith. It led to the drafting of Winston first overall.
“It’s a tough draw for everybody in the offense,” McCown said. “All the coaches, it puts strain on them, and I tell you what: It was the toughest year, but one of my most proud years, because we grinded.”
Bryce Petty said he is grateful to both journeymen for mentoring him. He couldn’t imagine that kind of nomadic career.
“It’s crazy, but that’s just a testament to who they are, their character, and above all, they just love the game,” Petty said. “Everybody wants it to work out to where you’re with one team your whole career, but the fact of the matter is this is a business, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. But the fact that they’ve been successful at multiple places shows a l ot about who they are.” Fitzpatrick could be goofy from time to time. McCown is more serious.
“He’s more intense than Fitz,” Robby Anderson said. “Fitz is a more laidback, nonchalant guy. Josh has a lot more fire to him.”
McCown began following Fitzpatrick’s career when he was with Mike Martz in Detroit.
“Martz had him in St. Louis as a young player, and Mike loved him,” McCown said. “Thought he was a heckuva player. And so you hear things like that, you kind of follow a guy’s career, ’cause I respected Mike’s opinion so much. It’s not the ideal thing, but really proud and happy for him to have the success he’s had.”
The Journeymen Quarterbacks have been two ships passing in the night.
“He reached out to me when I got signed, lend his hand to anything he could help me in the area and stuff like that, so just a class dude from everything I’ve heard about him,” McCown said. McCown smiled when reminded Fitzpatrick has been with a mere seven teams. “Only seven, so he’s got a ways to go, but just like myself, hopefully he finds a spot that he’s happy and he settles in,” McCown said. “For me, I appreciate what he’s done, what he puts on tape, because to be able to go from place to place and still play good football, it’s a credit to his perseverance, so it’s a pretty cool thing.” The Journeymen Quarterbacks have yet to appear in the playoffs. “You look across the league, you find people that have kind of had a similar journey,and that’s rare for me, because mine’s been so crazy,” McCown said, “to look across and go, ‘This dude has played for almost as many teams.’” A day to give Fitz fits.