Where does Fitzpatrick Rank?

[Billsrhody]

According to NFL.com...

 

Rankings

 

24) Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo Bills: Look at his stats and you see a late-career bloomer. Look at his stats after his first 16 NFL games and you see why he's rounding out the bottom third. Defensive coordinators know how to slow him down. But he did go to Harvard, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as he attempts to make his own adjustments this offseason. Here's my first tip: Don't grow the beard.

 

Its always a little disheartening to see this quarterback ranking and realize that as much as we like him, Fitz does fall in the bottom third of the league as far as QBs go. I look at that list and I cant even justify moving him up that list by more than maybe 1 or 2.

[NoSaint]

i typically put him between 15-20

 

id bump him above the rookies, locker and sanchez at the very least on that list.

 

but once your in that territory, its kind of hard to break out talent vs scheme vs luck vs surrounding talent vs who is on a hot streak.....

Edited April 6, 2012 by NoSaint

[jimmy10]

From reading this board, I've learned he is either the best ever, or history's greatest monster.

[CodeMonkey]

From reading this board, I've learned he is either the best ever, or history's greatest monster.

He is actually neither.

[mountainwampus]

I think he's awesome. Always have. He does more with less. If he had some better recievers and if Chan would actually allow him to use his strengths instead of testing his weaknesses, he'd look a lot better. I consider him top 10 in the NFL and top 2 overall for Bills all time (behind Kelly, ahead of Flutie).

[Just in Atlanta]

Doesn't concern me at all.

 

Guy has only had one full season as a starter. And that was a lockout year, and he had a serious injury for the second half.

 

I personally need to see one more year, with better pass protection, better receiving talent and a better defense, before I make any judgment that he's elite, great, mediocre or bad.

 

From what I've seen in the first half of last season, I think he has the potential to be great.

 

No one has said he's the greatest or a monster, btw. Most people think he's a mediocre talent. Could be true, but one year isn't an adequate test.

[Billsrhody]

I think he's awesome. Always have. He does more with less. If he had some better recievers and if Chan would actually allow him to use his strengths instead of testing his weaknesses, he'd look a lot better. I consider him top 10 in the NFL and top 2 overall for Bills all time (behind Kelly, ahead of Flutie).

 

So you would want him over the 13 guys directly ahead of him?

[mountainwampus]

What I see that makes him special is his quickness, his toughness and his intelligence. I think he is as good as anyone in those categories. What all the "elite" QB's have going for them are stud recievers and better pass protection. Yes, I know Fitzy was the least sacked QB last year, but it wasn't because of elite pass protection. I credit Fitzy's quickness for that.

[KD in CA]

Guys like Dalton, Bradford and the rookies certainly appear to have more upside, but the jury is still out on most of the group between 16 and 25. Some of those guys will end up in the top 15, others will fall to the scrap heap. Fitz is probably fairly ranked somewhere in the early 20s.

 

But early 20s is a lot better than were the Bills rank at LT, WR2 and until recently DE, and probably comparable to where they rank for OLB and CB.

[NoSaint]

What I see that makes him special is his quickness, his toughness and his intelligence. I think he is as good as anyone in those categories. What all the "elite" QB's have going for them are stud recievers and better pass protection. Yes, I know Fitzy was the least sacked QB last year, but it wasn't because of elite pass protection. I credit Fitzy's quickness for that.

 

the flip side being elite qbs make that protection and those wrs look better too......

[hondo in seattle]

Here's how I rate Fitz:

 

Better than Rob Johnson, TE, Gary Marangi, AVP, JP Losman, Todd Collins, Vince Ferragamo, Dennis Shaw, Kelly Holcomb, Dan Manucci and the great Brian Brohm

 

Not as good as Joe Ferguson, Frank Reich, Jim Kelly.

 

The Bills have been blessed with some good RBs over the years. But not a lot of good QBs. While Fitz may not be "elite," he's better than a whole bunch of his predecessors. So I'm happy to have him as our starter.

[mountainwampus]

So you would want him over the 13 guys directly ahead of him?

I'd take those 13 teams WR corps over ours, but not their QB's. I'd take pretty much any teams WR's over ours. There's no playmaker. There's no deep threat. I'd say SJ, Nelson and Chandler are all good "possesion receivers" but there needs to be playmaker in order for Fitzy to be considered great by the masses. A guy that can inflate his stats by getting an extra 20 yards after the catch. Maybe Floyd??

[reddogblitz]

Actually Fitz was statistically ranked like this in 2011:

 

#9 in completion %

#11 in yards

#10 in TDs

#12 in passes over 20 yards

#14 in passes over 40 yards

#5 in fewest sacks3

#22 in QB Rating

 

And Yes, #1 in picks.

 

I take all this over some guy's opinion. With a better D and (hopefully) better play at WR and having Fred back will help alot.

[Never NEVER Give-up]

I guess they can't rank him higher based on our record last year, but if you read why espn's james Walker picks the Bills as his sleeper next year, then there is reason enough to rank him higher.

 

I think Fitz is closer to top 10 than he is to the bottom ten. 15 sounds about right - trending upward. We'll see. If Fitz has a bad year this year, look for Buddy & Chan to really look for a new alternative.

[Billsrhody]

I'd take those 13 teams WR corps over ours, but not their QB's. I'd take pretty much any teams WR's over ours. There's no playmaker. There's no deep threat. I'd say SJ, Nelson and Chandler are all good "possesion receivers" but there needs to be playmaker in order for Fitzy to be considered great by the masses. A guy that can inflate his stats by getting an extra 20 yards after the catch. Maybe Floyd??

 

You would rather have the Raiders, Rams or Bears WR corps over ours? I think its a bit of a stretch to say that Fitz would be a top QB if his WRs were better.. Good quarterbacks make receivers better (see Brady, Brees, Manning)

[Never NEVER Give-up]

Actually Fitz was statistically ranked like this in 2011:

 

#9 in completion %

#11 in yards

#10 in TDs

#12 in passes over 20 yards

#14 in passes over 40 yards

#5 in fewest sacks3

#22 in QB Rating

 

And Yes, #1 in picks.

 

I take all this over some guy's opinion. With a better D and (hopefully) better play at WR and having Fred back will help alot.

 

 

Excellent point - this supports what I said in my preceding post. The #22 rank in QBR is directly correlating to the # of picks. The number of picks was due to his pressing and trying to do too much. With improvements, better health and (hopefully) ND WR-Floyd, he will show what he is - closer to the top 10, between 10 - 15 probably.

[Maddog69]

The first 12 are about right. Then I think Fitz falls in there right after that. Some of the guys listed ahead of him are just silly (like Jake Locker).

[Billsrhody]

Excellent point - this supports what I said in my preceding post. The #22 rank in QBR is directly correlating to the # of picks. The number of picks was due to his pressing and trying to do too much. With improvements, better health and (hopefully) ND WR-Floyd, he will show what he is - closer to the top 10, between 10 - 15 probably.

 

I hope you guys are right... Fitz has thrown INTs for his whole career and thats why he is rated so poorly

[CodeMonkey]

Actually Fitz was statistically ranked like this in 2011:

 

#9 in completion %

#11 in yards

#10 in TDs

#12 in passes over 20 yards

#14 in passes over 40 yards

#5 in fewest sacks3

#22 in QB Rating

 

And Yes, #1 in picks.

 

I take all this over some guy's opinion. With a better D and (hopefully) better play at WR and having Fred back will help alot.

 

#9 in completion % as you say, but also #23 in yards per attempt. In this case the low yards per attempt explains the high completion percentage.

Stats are wonderful things, but you have to take them all into account. Not just the ones that look good.

The QB rating is not perfect, but to say Fitz is better than his rating because of a couple cherry picked stats does not make sense either. YMMV.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

According to NFL.com...

 

Rankings

 

24) Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo Bills: Look at his stats and you see a late-career bloomer. Look at his stats after his first 16 NFL games and you see why he's rounding out the bottom third. Defensive coordinators know how to slow him down. But he did go to Harvard, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as he attempts to make his own adjustments this offseason. Here's my first tip: Don't grow the beard.

 

Its always a little disheartening to see this quarterback ranking and realize that as much as we like him, Fitz does fall in the bottom third of the league as far as QBs go. I look at that list and I cant even justify moving him up that list by more than maybe 1 or 2.

 

You do realize that this list has no connection to the reality of how the QB on it played, and is all about the man-loooove the author has for the QB in question, often for feats of Yore?

 

For example Bradford, though a highly-rated draft prospect whose team still has high hopes for him, completed a whopping 53% of his passes last year and ranked #29 in QB rating.

Putting him over Freeman, Palmer, and Alex Smith has no basis in any demonstrated NFL reality, past or present. Stafford and Romo were top-five QB last year. Putting them down in the 2nd tier, at #11 and #13, might be OK except by what criterion do you rate Newton, Vick, Ryan, and Rivers above them? Team wins? Completion percentage? Passing yards? Career success? Better year? Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt.

 

And putting guys who've not thrown a down in the NFL or who haven't thrown enough to be ranked passers (Locker) above guys who've actually seen NFL action is just silly. Luck, Griffin, and Locker do not belong on that list, sorry, and Bradford doesn't get a mulligan from #29 up to #18 'cuz he's a former #1 pick with high hopes on his shoulders.

 

Take out the players who had a short season due to injury (sorry, you don't get to project the first half of the season onto the last half), the rookies who don't belong there, and the players who are ranked stupid-higher than their NFL record of the last 3 years, and that puts Fitz about #15, which is about correct right now- his completion percentage, yards, and game savvy put him just out of the top 10 and his league-leading INTs put him into the bottom third, average them out.

 

It's always a little disheartening to see Bills fans read a list constructed on "name recognition" and personal bias and take it seriously.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Hopeful