Ryan Fitzpatrick: Have the Buffalo Bills Found a Franchise Quarterback

[bobobonators]

Do you not think Fitz has been generally consistent during each of his 4 starts this season? His QB rating was at 99 (not that stats tell the whole story) before the Baltimore game and there were some fans already calling for him to be the guy, possibly longterm. The Baltimore game was much better than his previous 3 starts but he certainly wasn't doing terribly before.

 

Fitzpatrick has played against two of the top defenses in the NFL, and performed at a pretty high level.

 

Against Ravens and Jets combined: 41-70, 502 yards, 6td, 2int and 94 yards RUSHING.

 

QB's don't have fluke games against those kinds of defenses...Fitz performance this year is as real as it gets.

[McBeane]

There seems to be a lot of "if this keeps up" in this thread. I concur with that whole heartedly, but mostly because I feel like there is a strong possibility it won't keep up. Fitz has guts, is playing extremely well right now and cares, which is always nice. But is his QB rating last year was under 70, and he's never, ever been this good before.

 

Maybe Gailey has done something to him or maybe Fitz has done something, but 4 games with an 0-4 record, one of which was a bad game, one which was good and two that were really good a franchise QB does not make.

 

Drew Brees wasn't lighting the world on fire in San Diego before he got to N.O. People were saying the same thing about Brees after he started performing well in N.O. Just sayin....

[bobobonators]

There seems to be a lot of "if this keeps up" in this thread. I concur with that whole heartedly, but mostly because I feel like there is a strong possibility it won't keep up. Fitz has guts, is playing extremely well right now and cares, which is always nice. But is his QB rating last year was under 70, and he's never, ever been this good before.

 

Maybe Gailey has done something to him or maybe Fitz has done something, but 4 games with an 0-4 record, one of which was a bad game, one which was good and two that were really good a franchise QB does not make.

 

you don't have fluke games against arguably the two best defenses in the nfl. Sometimes it takes some QB's longer to actually grasp an NFL offense..maybe it's just a perfect combination with gailey's system and fitzpatricks tools? who knows...but whatever it is, it's working. It's not as if Fitzpatrick was ever given a legit shot as a starting QB in this league..And don't give me that 0-4 crap. This team has absolutely 0 talent on the O-line/D-line/LB and we have 1 legit WR (hopefully soon we'll have 2 with Johnson).

[FightinIrishBills]

There seems to be a lot of "if this keeps up" in this thread. I concur with that whole heartedly, but mostly because I feel like there is a strong possibility it won't keep up. Fitz has guts, is playing extremely well right now and cares, which is always nice. But is his QB rating last year was under 70, and he's never, ever been this good before.

 

Maybe Gailey has done something to him or maybe Fitz has done something, but 4 games with an 0-4 record, one of which was a bad game, one which was good and two that were really good a franchise QB does not make.

 

While he's never performed at this level before, that doesn't mean he can't continue to do so. As many other posters have mentioned, he is still very young. When a QB is first drafted, there's always a lot of talk about how he needs to be developed over time, with the seemingly optimal situation being a rookie QB riding the pine behind an experience vet to learn the game. Fitz's learning curve might have been a little steeper considering that he was not part of a premier college football program, but at this point he really seems to understand the game.

 

As for the record, it's like blaming a pitcher with a 2.15 ERA for a 4-16 record. Fitz has been playing at a very high level and the only bad game was against a potential Superbowl team (*vomit*). I'll call it even after that stellar performance against the Ravens, another team considered to be a Superbowl contender. It's way too early to call Fitz a franchise QB but if he plays at this high of a level, then the guy has the starting job for at least a couple of years.

[JPS]

It's interesting how all of a sudden "Lee Evans is a premier receiver", as the article mentions. All it takes is for a QB to trust him and throw the ball his way and he's no longer a waste of money and trade fodder. Maybe he's not "worth" the exorbitant salary, but when he's involved in the offense he makes plays. Another thing to credit Chan for, as far as I'm concerned.

But he's not a true #1 (we're due for a Lee Evans is not a rue #1 WR discussion). It's been 9 days, right?

[machinegun12]

Drew Brees wasn't lighting the world on fire in San Diego before he got to N.O. People were saying the same thing about Brees after he started performing well in N.O. Just sayin....

Brees' last 2 seasons in SD were pretty remarkable...if Fitzy had 2 straight seasons like these I think he would be one of the hottest free agent QBs around...Brees just had a horribly seperated shoulder and teams thought he wouldn't be the same.

 

year atts comps pct yards avg tds ints rating

2004 400 262 65.5 3,159 7.9 27 7 104.8

2005 500 323 64.6 3,576 7.2 24 15 89.2

 

and I think his numbers were not quite so blown up like they are in NO because he had Tomlinson running the ball. I remember him being quite a valuable commodity until the injury he sustained in the final game of his SD career.

Edited October 26, 2010 by machinegun12

[Punch]

But he's not a true #1 (we're due for a Lee Evans is not a rue #1 WR discussion). It's been 9 days, right?

I'm talking about the reaction from the media, which bounces back and forth between castigation and coronation. I think the reality lay somewhere in between. I'm not declaring him a "true #1", but he makes plays when the quarterback gets him the ball. It's not alchemy.

[larz tex]

Do you not think Fitz has been generally consistent during each of his 4 starts this season? His QB rating was at 99 (not that stats tell the whole story) before the Baltimore game and there were some fans already calling for him to be the guy, possibly longterm. The Baltimore game was much better than his previous 3 starts but he certainly wasn't doing terribly before.

Yeah, and he did rather well last year, winning a couple of games for Perry Fewell, too.

[Wilson Bills backer]

I love his gunslinger mentality. He deserves a strong look the rest of the yr.I am trying to not get to excited I have been there before.But he is alot of fun to watch right now.It would be great to get that stud pass rusher instead of a QB in the 1st round.

[Trader]

You'll never get anyone here to admit it, but QB is no longer the #1 weakness.

 

The biggest weakness is Linebacker and pass rushers

 

I will admit it. Lack of Defense has cost the Bills Victories. How good would a Clay Matthews or a Jason Tuck look in a Bills uniform?

[Punch]

Brees' last 2 seasons in SD were pretty remarkable...if Fitzy had 2 straight seasons like these I think he would be one of the hottest free agent QBs around...Brees just had a horribly seperated shoulder and teams thought he wouldn't be the same.

 

year atts comps pct yards avg tds ints rating

2004 400 262 65.5 3,159 7.9 27 7 104.8

2005 500 323 64.6 3,576 7.2 24 15 89.2

 

and I think his numbers were not quite so blown up like they are in NO because he had Tomlinson running the ball. I remember him being quite a valuable commodity until the injury he sustained in the final game of his SD career.

I'm pretty sure the poster was referring to Brees' first 2 seasons as a starter where he clearly struggled, which you left out, and which also roughly equate to the same number of starts Fitz had prior to this season:

 

year atts comps pct yards avg tds ints rating

2003 205 356 57.6 2,108 5.9 11 15 67.5

2002 320 526 60.8 3,284 6.2 17 16 76.9

[bkc]

how quickly things change , 4 weeks ago the entire board , including myself was advocating drafting a left tackle or a qb, now we are on the front 7 train. Maybe in 4 weeks from now carrington and troupe step up. stay tuned

[Punch]

how quickly things change , 4 weeks ago the entire board , including myself was advocating drafting a left tackle or a qb, now we are on the front 7 train. Maybe in 4 weeks from now carrington and troupe step up. stay tuned

Troup is playing pretty well already, but Carrington so far is a work in progress. That doesn't mean the linebackers aren't a mess (although I like Moats' progress, too.

[T master]

You'll never get anyone here to admit it, but QB is no longer the #1 weakness.

 

The biggest weakness is Linebacker and pass rushers

 

If nothing else Fitz is the present ,& a Buffalo type of player !! Some one the fans can root for and gives every thing he's got every time he steps on the field !

 

He's smart , has the second highest passer rating behind Peyton Manning which is at 102 . If nothing else the Bills won't need to do something stupid at the position (i just hope they realize it) And they will have some one in place that can lead this team until the air apparent comes along .

 

Plus it's not like we don't have other need areas on this team !!! Which between Chan & Buddy i think they'll

 

GET ER DUN !!!!!

[Big Turk]

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but as I recall we once thought our quarterback problems were solved when we saw a guy have a really good game - he played for the Jaguars and his name was Rob Johnson - I think you know how that turned out.

 

I'd love it if we actually had a solid quarterback on our hands, but I need to see consistently solid play before I'm willing to believe that Fitzpatrick will serve the Bills any better than the last 5 guys or so......

 

It isn't one really good game, he has been pretty good in all 4 games.

[todd]

This isn't a bad problem to have given all the Bills issues. It is nice being able to ask that question, when before the answer was a clear "no" to the quarterback question. I'm much more comfortable with "maybe."

[sac bills]

You'll never get anyone here to admit it, but QB is no longer the #1 weakness.

 

The biggest weakness is Linebacker and pass rushers

 

Absolutely! Draft a LB with first round pick next year.

[sllib olaffub]

I've been a fan of the Bills for fifteen years at least. I've been really following football for maybe seven or eight. Every year there are one or two college football players coming out that stand easily at the top of the list, guys that a team can build a unit around. Last year it was Suh.

Remember - going through a rebuild that takes a few years is something a team doesn't want to do every four or five years. If we have to hit rock bottom to build this thing up the right way, we should be aiming for a championship, to begin with, and then to remain that good.

 

Now, if we end up going into next year with the first pick, or top two or three, we should not be seeing that high a pick again for a long time. To be a great team - not just good, but great - we need a great QB. Fitz might be playing good, but he'll never be great. He looks like the perfect number 2 QB on a championship team, able to come in and win a game when needed, smart and capable of helping a young Qb read defenses. If we have the chance to grab a QB capable of being great, then we need to take it. Unless there is another player of need on Defense that is looking like a once in a generation prospect - and from what I've read it looks like the QB's are the talk of next year's draft.

 

The other direction - one I'm opposed to - is trading down. But, we won't, at least we shouldn't, have the chance to lock up a great Qb with a top pick for the forseeable future, so that is the way to go, IMO.

[GaryPinC]

Somebody is not receiving the proper credit here, Chan Gailey. His reputation is quarterback development and he has done a fantastic job.

 

If Fitzpatrick can keep this up, the Bills have eliminated the need for a QB, 2nd receiver,a new offensive line,and the Bills can focus on defense. That's would be quite an accomplishment in 3 months.

 

Seems like yesterday we needed a completely new team.

 

I like your thinking and hope you're right, but let's see how the offense performs as the season plays out. The good thing about our tough schedule is we'll know what this team is made of by the end of the year. You're right about Gailey also, he definitely deserves kudos. Our offense is finally settling in to the new system and now Chan can really go to work on opposing defenses.

[Geno Smith's Arm]

Let's see what happens if he has more success, and teams have more film on him and this offense, and they are taking the Bills seriously, and the Bills aren't coming off a by week. One thing is certain, he is much better than Trent Deadwoods. I'm still skeptical.