Green Lantern: Jets Need To Rally Around Fitzpatrick And Put An End To The Drama
By Jeff Capellini
WFAN.com
Ryan Fitzpatrick may not be a star, but he's a more accomplished quarterback than Geno Smith.
And as far as the Jets are concerned, that should be good enough for the time being.
This team needs a calming influence under center as much as it does someone who can make all the throws. The Jets haven't had a combination of the two in decades, and that's the main reason why they haven't appeared in a Super Bowl in 46 years.
Now that assumed starter Smith will be sipping his lunch out of a straw for the next two months -- thanks to the gutless cheap shot that cost former teammate Ikemefuna Enemkpali his job -- Fitzpatrick, a wily old veteran now in his 11th season, will assume the role a lot of people wanted him to have in the first place.
Fitzpatrick may not be Pro Bowl-caliber or have the athleticism that Smith possesses, but he's a lot smarter and efficient than many give him credit for. Those attributes should help him thrive in the Chan Gailey offense, a system in which he threw for more than 3,000 yards each season and a total of 71 touchdowns from 2010-12, while both were with the Buffalo Bills.
"Knowledge and being comfortable in (Gailey's) system is going to help me, but there are things I can get better at," Fitzpatrick told reporters following Tuesday's practice.
Critics claim Fitzpatrick is a turnover machine, but if nearly 20,000 passing yards, 123 touchdowns, 101 interceptions and a 60.2 career completion percentage is substandard -- considering Smith with his 41 turnovers in 30 NFL games was the alternative -- I'll stick with substandard.
Fitzpatrick was having a career year in 2014 before a broken leg in Week 15 against Indianapolis cost him the rest of the season. Throwing to the likes of receivers Andre Johnson and D'Andre Hopkins and running back Arian Foster, Fitzpatrick finished with nearly 2,500 yards, 17 TDs and just eight interceptions.
Though the Jets don't really have a pass-catching option out of the backfield as of yet, they are now loaded out wide. Adding Brandon Marshall to Eric Decker and Jeremy Kerley gives the Jets a receiving unit that could be the best in the AFC East and among the better ones in the conference.
"I understand the opportunities are few and far between. I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity and every rep out there," Fitzpatrick said.
You should believe him. Head coach Todd Bowles does.
"I'm confident in Ryan. He's had a good camp. He's a pro. He's got a lot of games under his belt," Bowles said.
Jets fans need to stop their bickering, which has become even more of a nuisance than usual on Twitter of late. Regardless if you think Smith stinks or was on the cusp of finally becoming something more, he's not going to be back any time soon. Fitzpatrick will be the guy until at least Week 3 and probably a lot longer, so complaining about his journeyman career and apparent pedestrian at-best ability is counterproductive.
Nobody better is walking through the door at the facility in Florham Park, either. So, Jets fans have to stop acting like the starting QB issue is equivalent to being in a political party. There's simply no reason to hate the guy in the big chair just because he wasn't "your guy" to begin with.
Bowles has the right idea as far as I am concerned. If Fitzpatrick plays well there's no reason to give the job back to Smith once he's healthy. Geno's "starter" label was handed out just to give training camp a frame of reference. And while it's true Smith had played well enough in the early going to cement Fitzpatrick as the clear-cut backup, he's done nothing during his two-plus year career to make you believe he can play consistently well.
Putting up Playstation numbers during what amounted to meaningless Week 17 games at Miami each of the last two seasons really doesn't count.
The Jets have had their world rocked three times in the last six weeks, following what really was a tremendous offseason highlighted by a complete roster revamp and a smooth transition into power for general manager Mike Maccagnan, the rest of the front office team, Bowles and his staff.
But then Sheldon Richardson showed us he's all brawn and no brains not once but twice, and as a result might not see the field for a very long time. Now we've got the Jets' presumed starting quarterback on the receiving end of a haymaker from a hot-headed linebacker who was buried on the depth chart.
In both cases the public relations hit should end up being a lot worse than the actual impact the Jets feel on the field. The gift in the draft that was defensive lineman Leonard Williams falling to No. 6 in the first round makes the Richardson debacle a little easier to swallow because, by all accounts, he will one day be the real deal. Fitzpatrick doesn't have that kind of future upside, but imagine the shape the Jets would be in if they didn't have him. He's capable and at a minimum should be the game manager the Jets can live with, considering how good their defense is supposed to be.
Maccagnan has to go out and get another quarterback with a pulse, because if Fitzpatrick goes down the last thing this win-now team needs is to be forced to play Bryce Petty, who could literally be years away from being any good.
It's high time the Jets come together and stop acting like thugs. Their behavior has done little to dispel the popular belief that they exist in a lawless society, where the inmates run the asylum. That's a shame because you can see that Bowles is trying to provide structure and ground rules to what was a free-spirited group under Rex Ryan.
This team must rally around Fitzpatrick and prepare as if Smith and Richardson are afterthoughts because, let's face it, they are. The sooner everyone accepts that, the better.
Read more columns by Jeff Capellini and follow him on Twitter at @GreenLanternJet
