Fitz working on mechanics with new QB coach

[NoSaint]

That's why you use the off season to train the new motions into your muscle memory.

 

I've changed shooting motions in basketball a few times, all it takes is repetition, and then it's there, even when things breakdown.

 

obviously, but if it were so easy, everyone would do it and theyd all be great. the thing is, most athletes - even professional - struggle with this at times, and even if gains are made, they are in small increments. im not trying to rain on parades or anything, i just think some people are expecting that based on him praising his qb coach in one interview that he suddenly will see a 5% spike and cut his ints in half.

 

its good to be working on fundamentals. dont get me wrong by any means. whether that translates, and how much, we will see. honestly, we dont even really know for sure how he feels about it all or how effective the coaching has been - its not like hed say "this dude sucks" in his interview.

 

having a rich gannon spike is like drafting a HoF qb in the 6th. theres a reason everyone uses his name, just like brady is the poster boy - its a rare rare rare occurance. its about our time for some good luck like that though!

Edited May 24, 2012 by NoSaint

[Bronc24]

Something had to be done and, Cincy Kid, that does not make me a hater, though it's convenient message board speak to say so. You cannot look to a completion %, say "hey, it went up" and be satisfied with that. As any athlete will tell you, the power comes from your legs and your core. If Fitz's mechanics were often removing these areas from the equation, then it's great that they are addressing it. He threw two costly, underthrown INT's vs. the Giants in a game we should have won.

 

I want the guy to succeed. Hell I want him to win a SB and doubt anyone who posts here thinks differently. The difference is that we can look critically at a player and hope he improves. Everyone in the country agrees with the need for improved play at the QB position for the Buffalo Bills. Take the Bills' blinders off and be objective about it. There is a lot of room for improvement and I am hoping the horrendous play in the second half of the season was injury related. However, those throws vs. the Giants came from a healthy Fitz.

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

All you can ask of an athlete is to maximize one's talents. That is what he is working on. A consistent criticism of Fitzz is his accuracy. There are games where he impressively threads the needle; then there are games where the ball is floating all over the place. If he can bump up the accuracy percentage and add that to his ability to read defenses then that is going to make a positive difference for the offense.

 

There is no doubt that from the intangible side of the equation Fitz has it all: intelligence, composure and leadership. Now if he can be more consistent on the physical side of the equation in his passing execution then the team is going to be elevated.

 

Fixing his throws are a good discussion but is there a voice coach in the NFL? Cuz Fitz has one of the girliest happy shouts I've ever heard... Sound FX against the raiders game is the example... Sorry I'm on my phone so I don't have a link...

 

Oh hey I found it...

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DNouH613u4B4&v=NouH613u4B4&gl=US

Edited May 24, 2012 by DefenseWinzChampionshipz

[Van_phelaN1]

What's tough is turning that into second nature physically. It's tough to turn 30 years of slinging the rock into precision in just a few months. If he can, perhaps he has a shot at that late career spike, but its rare for a reason - its very hard. I don't doubt his will (though did he not see the issues? Why not seek help earlier?), so fingers crossed!

 

It is probably easier for a coach like Lee to spot what he is doing wrong than it is for Fitz to figure it out on his own. But I agree, he must have known he was better at certain passes than others so why not seek a way to improve? I guess it is what it is now

[FleaMoulds80]

OK...as a professional, isn't it Fitz's responsibility to seek help like this even from outside the organization? He knew he could be better technically and fundamentally, yet he waited 6 or so years to get help? That's a bit odd to me. Even if he didnt have a QB coach to tutor him, he could've seeked help during the offseason to get better.

Edited May 24, 2012 by FleaMoulds80

[Dorkington]

obviously, but if it were so easy, everyone would do it and theyd all be great. the thing is, most athletes - even professional - struggle with this at times, and even if gains are made, they are in small increments. im not trying to rain on parades or anything, i just think some people are expecting that based on him praising his qb coach in one interview that he suddenly will see a 5% spike and cut his ints in half.

 

its good to be working on fundamentals. dont get me wrong by any means. whether that translates, and how much, we will see. honestly, we dont even really know for sure how he feels about it all or how effective the coaching has been - its not like hed say "this dude sucks" in his interview.

 

having a rich gannon spike is like drafting a HoF qb in the 6th. theres a reason everyone uses his name, just like brady is the poster boy - its a rare rare rare occurance. its about our time for some good luck like that though!

Improving mechanics doesn't guarantee greatness. Mechanics are improved all the time though. You're fooling yourself if you think no one but the best players have their mechanics worked on constantly.

[Jerry Jabber]

Stevie Johnson got some good press by being the first Bills WR in franchise history to post two 1000+ yard seasons. In the same token, Fitz should be praised for having 2 consecutive seasons of throwing 20 or more TD's in a season. The last time Bills QB to do that was Jim Kelly (1995, 22 TD's; 1994: 22 TD's). For those that think QB coach David Lee is only going to help Fitz improve very insignificantly, here are the facts with Fitz:

- Ryan Fitzpatrick was a 7th round draft pick

- 2010 - Fitz was a backup in training camp, then won the starting QB position after Trent Edwards was fired

- 2011 - With the shortened offseason, Fitz did not have a full offseason as the starting QB to work with coaches and all the players on offense

- Look at what Fitz has had to work with. While Stevie Johnson is a good WR, he is not elite. Right now, the only player on offense that you can consider elite is Fred Jackson. Fitz has not had an all-star cast around him like Brees has in New Orleans, Brady in New England or Rodgers in Green Bay, but yet, he still produced 20+ TD's in consecutive years.

 

With Fitz producing 20+ TD's in consecutive years, with no coaches helping him in his NFL career with the mechanics of his game, IMO, Coach Lee will help Fitz take his game to a higher level. Jim Kelly had a four year streak of 20+ TD's (1989, 25 TD's; 1990, 24 TD's; 1991, 33 TD's; 1992, 23 TD's). Under Lee's & Gailey's tutelage, maybe Fitz can extend his 2 year streak of 20+ TD's in a season and hit the 30 TD mark.

[Bronc24]

Stevie Johnson got some good press by being the first Bills WR in franchise history to post two 1000+ yard seasons. In the same token, Fitz should be praised for having 2 consecutive seasons of throwing 20 or more TD's in a season. The last time Bills QB to do that was Jim Kelly (1995, 22 TD's; 1994: 22 TD's). For those that think QB coach David Lee is only going to help Fitz improve very insignificantly, here are the facts with Fitz:

- Ryan Fitzpatrick was a 7th round draft pick

- 2010 - Fitz was a backup in training camp, then won the starting QB position after Trent Edwards was fired

- 2011 - With the shortened offseason, Fitz did not have a full offseason as the starting QB to work with coaches and all the players on offense

- Look at what Fitz has had to work with. While Stevie Johnson is a good WR, he is not elite. Right now, the only player on offense that you can consider elite is Fred Jackson. Fitz has not had an all-star cast around him like Brees has in New Orleans, Brady in New England or Rodgers in Green Bay, but yet, he still produced 20+ TD's in consecutive years.

 

With Fitz producing 20+ TD's in consecutive years, with no coaches helping him in his NFL career with the mechanics of his game, IMO, Coach Lee will help Fitz take his game to a higher level. Jim Kelly had a four year streak of 20+ TD's (1989, 25 TD's; 1990, 24 TD's; 1991, 33 TD's; 1992, 23 TD's). Under Lee's & Gailey's tutelage, maybe Fitz can extend his 2 year streak of 20+ TD's in a season and hit the 30 TD mark.

 

You forgot to mention that he is a Harvard Graduate.

[eball]

Something had to be done and, Cincy Kid, that does not make me a hater, though it's convenient message board speak to say so. You cannot look to a completion %, say "hey, it went up" and be satisfied with that. As any athlete will tell you, the power comes from your legs and your core. If Fitz's mechanics were often removing these areas from the equation, then it's great that they are addressing it. He threw two costly, underthrown INT's vs. the Giants in a game we should have won.

 

I want the guy to succeed. Hell I want him to win a SB and doubt anyone who posts here thinks differently. The difference is that we can look critically at a player and hope he improves. Everyone in the country agrees with the need for improved play at the QB position for the Buffalo Bills. Take the Bills' blinders off and be objective about it. There is a lot of room for improvement and I am hoping the horrendous play in the second half of the season was injury related. However, those throws vs. the Giants came from a healthy Fitz.

Really good post. Bravo sir.

[Mark Long Beach]

Good points! What the hell did the old QB coach, George Cortez do with the QB's?

 

There's a LOT of things that go into QB work. I'm sure that all of the QB coaches work on fundamentals & mechanics to some degree, but that may not be that coaches strength. This is the first QB coach who is a master of throwing mechanics (and is a good enough communicator to get the QB to understand).

 

Hopefully it'll lead to a better performing Fitz.

 

For me, understanding the 'why' of things helps me actually do them. That's not true for everyone, but I think (hope) that it's true for Fitz.

[K-9]

Jim Kelly played in a vertical passing offense. Ftiz plays in a spread. Big difference.

 

While I agree that Kelly's offense ran far more intermediate and long routes, the Bills' single back, 3 WR base offense was considered a spread attack. It was designed to spread a D, create matchup problems, and give TT running room. And we all know what kind of fits it caused when they went to the K-Gun and flexed McKeller.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[NoSaint]

Improving mechanics doesn't guarantee greatness. Mechanics are improved all the time though. You're fooling yourself if you think no one but the best players have their mechanics worked on constantly.

 

obviously but my point was people were initially talking like this would be a big overhaul with huge results. perhaps you were not one of those, but that was what I was addressing. every player is a work in progress, few make huge jumps, especially at this stage.

[Dorkington]

obviously but my point was people were initially talking like this would be a big overhaul with huge results. perhaps you were not one of those, but that was what I was addressing. every player is a work in progress, few make huge jumps, especially at this stage.

I'd rather not make assumptions either way, my only opinion is that it's good that they are identifying a problem and attempting to fix it. I don't see what's wrong with trying to improve players.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Dorkington

[NoSaint]

I'd rather not make assumptions either way, my only opinion is that it's good that they are identifying a problem and attempting to fix it. I don't see what's wrong with trying to improve players.

nothing wrong with it. no one claimed there was. again, i was speaking to the people saying the problems would be fixed and this was going to be our rich gannon type of jump. odds are its a pretty standard off season tutoring. hopefully it works AMAZING though.

Edited May 24, 2012 by NoSaint

[Doc]

I'd be happy with the Fitz we saw in the first 7 games last year, with this defense and what should be a better offense. Anything beyond that would be gravy.

[Adam]

It won't work. We're dooooooomed

[Dorkington]

nothing wrong with it. no one claimed there was. again, i was speaking to the people saying the problems would be fixed and this was going to be our rich gannon type of jump. odds are its a pretty standard off season tutoring. hopefully it works AMAZING though.

Well, I think he was on the way to having that sort of jump before he got injured last year. I wouldn't be surprised if people are depending on that or better in regards to performance.

[Kelly the Dog]

Seems to me that it would be much easier to change the way you set your feet to throw than it would be to, say, change your actual throwing motion like guys such as Tebow are trying to do. Seems like the likelihood of reverting back to your old ways would be much higher with the throwing than the setting of the feet on certain throws.

[eball]

Seems to me that it would be much easier to change the way you set your feet to throw than it would be to, say, change your actual throwing motion like guys such as Tebow are trying to do. Seems like the likelihood of reverting back to your old ways would be much higher with the throwing than the setting of the feet on certain throws.

Good point. Nothing in the article suggests Fitz isn't "throwing" correctly, but that his lower body positioning has been limiting his effectiveness.

[Best Player Available]

For whats its worth, Fitz has a career 59.2% completion percentage, and went 62% last season. Jim Kelly for comparison had a career completion percentage of 60.1%.

Kelly could air it out from time to time with success.Kelly had almost every pass in his arsenal. Fitz not so much, ever, at any level. Above, is a statement where stats are just numbers and nothing more.

 

Comparing Fitz to a hall of fame quarterback is wrong.