GRIT - PATRICK
QB grinds out revenge win over former team
TAMPA, Fla. — When it was over, after Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Revenge was complete, after he had beaten Josh McCown’s Jets in The Battle of Journeyman Quarterbacks, after he had tossed passes on the field to his two sons and chatted with Todd Bowles, his boys had left the Buccaneers’ locker room and were waiting for him outside, and so was Bryce Petty.
Fitzpatrick, the ugly 15-10 winner, exacted his revenge in large part because he did not show up as Pickpatrick, and because McCown, as much of a godsend as he has been, stood as a symbol why the Jets will forever be stuck in the mud until they find that elusive franchise quarterback.
“Today, standing on the other sideline before the game looking across and just seeing ... I mean, those guys that are still around that I played with, they’re not just teammates to me, those are brothers, a lot of those guys,” Fitzpatrick said. “And so it was kind of emotional looking across and even just seeing the peo- ple that work in that building.
“I mean, I had a great two years there in terms of the people that I met, and just the day-to-day interactions. It’s special to me to be able to win that game, but even just to see them and to compete against them was fun too.”
He talked about the respect he still has for Bowles, who stuck by him as long as he could during a season when FitzMagic disappeared and turned FitzTragic.
“There’s no hard feelings in me not being there, or the way that it ended or anything like that,” Fitzpatrick said. “We still have a good relationship.”
He spoke before and after the game with McCown, his kindred spirit.
“I know a lot of what he’s been through and he knows a lot of what I’ve been through, and there’s not a lot of people that can relate with that,” Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick tutored Petty from the time he was a pup and has an unmistakable affection for him.
“Bryce’ll always be a dear friend for me, and I think he’s got so much potential,” he said. “When he came out of Baylor, he didn’t know a lot. And he didn’t know that, but he’s learned a ton, he’s stayed with it, he plays hard, he competes, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Bryce’s future holds.”
Fitzpatrick was more reserved about Hackenberg.
“Christian’s got some goatee thing going on that I don’t know. ... I gotta make sure to let him know that I’m not necessarily a fan of it, maybe he should cut it off,” Fitzpatrick said, and smiled.
Asked if he had any advice for Hackenberg when they met pregame on the field, Fitzpatrick said: “The biggest thing for Christian is to just keep working hard, keep learning when you’re not in there, and good things’ll come.”
This was on the other end of the spectrum from Johnny Unitas versus Joe Namath, or Peyton Manning versus Tom Brady. Second quarter: McCown (23-for-39, 262 yards, 1 garbage time TD) was intercepted by Brent Grimes. Fitzpatrick (17-for-34, 187 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) took over at the Jets 32 and promptly threw an interception to Darryl Roberts.
But he took advantage of a Roberts pass interference on thirdand-10 on the 15-play touchdown drive that iced the game.
“Gritty,” Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter said. “That’s what Ryan is. He’s a get-it-done kinda guy. He’s gonna make some plays you maybe don’t expect him to, and he might miss a couple of plays you’d like him to make. But he’s a tough guy, and he’s a competitor, and you can’t have enough of those kind of guys on your team.”
Fitzpatrick, with Josh Martin in his face in third-and-2, found Charles Sims with a 6-yard TD toss with 6:05 left.
“He knows to not panic when everything’s not perfect,” Koetter said. “And I doubt if Ryan’s had a whole bunch of perfect games in his career. But I think Ryan just hung in there. ”
Jameis Winston’s backup hung in there without No. 1 receiver Mike Evans [suspension]. Which meant 10 targets for DeSean Jackson and 10 for Chris Godwin.
“The New York media knows I love to force the ball to my favorite guys,” Fitzpatrick said with a smile. “I’m out there trying to execute right now and find my place and to figure out.”
Fitzpatrick greeted several more of his old teammates outside the visiting locker room.
“In the important scheme of things, when I’m all said and done, it’s definitely an important win for me, it’s always fun to beat your old teams,” Fitzpatrick said. “But in the here and now, just to get the winning feeling back with this team and try to go on a little bit of a run ... hopefully this’ll get us headed in the right direction.”
He has never been to the playoffs. Came so close with the Jets in 2015 and now is the backup quarterback for a 3-6 team.
“The year I had last year with New York, how tough it was, you realize how hard it is to win in this league, so you take ’ em however they come,” Fitzpatrick said.