Argument against Fitz

[Dr. Trooth]

 

 

A HUGE difference is that Alex Smith can accurately throw a football beyond 15 yards.

 

Obviously he couldn't until Harbaugh came on the scene... Smith never had a qb rating above 82.2 until last year

[ALLEN1QB]

Fire all QBs on the roster and root out the cancer of this team!

[Bronc24]

 

 

Obviously he couldn't until Harbaugh came on the scene... Smith never had a qb rating above 82.2 until last year

 

I didn't know Harbaugh was a miracle worker who added arm strength to a QB by becoming coach.

[Orton's Arm]

Arm strength is definitely a question and he missed some open receivers this year, but does anyone who thinks he was the reason we lost the games we did have any idea how terrible our defense was in the entire history of our organization and the league. I am not saying that we should not let him go because we could do a lot with three million dollars and Levitre resigned, but that seems like a big gamble with Thigpen in the bullpen. We lost games because of our defense. Fitz didn't help his cause, but an average defense gets us at 8 and 8.

 

When evaluating a QB's performance, focus mostly on one question: how well did he throw the ball? Throw in other stuff too if you will: pocket presence, on-field playcalling, etc. But don't worry about the team's overall record, don't worry about the quality of the defense, and don't worry about anything else which might distract you from paying attention to the quality of the QB's play.

 

Based on what you've seen from Fitz these past few seasons, do you think he's good enough to be the long-term answer at starter? If not, do you like him as a backup QB, and maybe as a guy who can hold down the fort while a rookie QB sits on the bench and learns? If you answered either of these questions in the affirmative, then Fitz is worth keeping.

 

I, personally, would not object to Fitz spending the rest of his career as the Bills' backup QB.

[thewildrabbit]

Ryan Fitzpatrick was the 17th ranked QB in 2012. 83.3 rating. http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/quarterbackRating/seasontype/2

 

The Bills were 25th in passing last season while #6 in rushing, and yet most feel CJ Spiller at RB was under utilized all season.

 

Bills WR Stevie Johnson was ranked 19 in yards for 2011, and ranked 18th in 2012 79 receptions, 148 targets, 1046 yards, 6 TD's. The next best receiver on the team was Scott Chandler ranked #77th, 43 receptions for 571 yards. 3rd on the team was Ranked #101 CJ Spiller with 43 receptions for 459 yards. Donald Jones ranked#107 at 4th with 41 receptions,443 yards The 5th best Bills receiver Ranked #137 was TJ Graham 31 receptions for 322 yards.

 

Then consider David Nelson was lost for the season after one game, and Chandler was injured often. The Bills had only one decent receiver again this year, ONE! That didn't stop Gailey from calling his famous shotgun spread empty backfield sets.

 

I"d like to see the Buffalo Bills get a solid top #1 or #2 WR. Let Fitz throw less, and have the BIlls RB's run more. Plus a better DC and the players doing their jobs correctly will give the Bills a chance to win more games.

 

I'm not going to judge what Doug Marrone does with Fitz based on what Fitz did playing QB for Chan Gailey. Gailey never taught Fitz how to run a 2 min drill on offense properly, nor did he teach the other Bills players how to run a "hurry up" offense to win the game. Lets see what Marrone can figure out to do with Fitz, and see if he is salvageable. I'm thinking he is at first, while Marrone gets a backup QB or rookie QB ready to take over. Meanwhile teaching Fitz how to do his job properly.

[Orton's Arm]

Ryan Fitzpatrick was the 17th ranked QB in 2012. 83.3 rating. http://espn.go.com/n...ng/seasontype/2

 

The Bills were 25th in passing last season while #6 in rushing, and yet most feel CJ Spiller at RB was under utilized all season.

 

Bills WR Stevie Johnson was ranked 19 in yards for 2011, and ranked 18th in 2012 79 receptions, 148 targets, 1046 yards, 6 TD's. The next best receiver on the team was Scott Chandler ranked #77th, 43 receptions for 571 yards. 3rd on the team was Ranked #101 CJ Spiller with 43 receptions for 459 yards. Donald Jones ranked#107 at 4th with 41 receptions,443 yards The 5th best Bills receiver Ranked #137 was TJ Graham 31 receptions for 322 yards.

 

Then consider David Nelson was lost for the season after one game, and Chandler was injured often. The Bills had only one decent receiver again this year, ONE! That didn't stop Gailey from calling his famous shotgun spread empty backfield sets.

 

I"d like to see the Buffalo Bills get a solid top #1 or #2 WR. Let Fitz throw less, and have the BIlls RB's run more. Plus a better DC and the players doing their jobs correctly will give the Bills a chance to win more games.

 

I'm not going to judge what Doug Marrone does with Fitz based on what Fitz did playing QB for Chan Gailey. Gailey never taught Fitz how to run a 2 min drill on offense properly, nor did he teach the other Bills players how to run a "hurry up" offense to win the game. Lets see what Marrone can figure out to do with Fitz, and see if he is salvageable. I'm thinking he is at first, while Marrone gets a backup QB or rookie QB ready to take over. Meanwhile teaching Fitz how to do his job properly.

 

You are using the wrong statistical measure. Quarterback rating is flawed because it takes completion percentage into account. If you use quarterback rating to compare a short passing game guy against someone who focused more on the deep game, the short passing game guy will look a lot better than he deserves. A good example of this is the fact that Kelly Holcomb and John Elway have almost identical career quarterback ratings. Holcomb's focus on the short passing game inflated his quarterback rating. Just as Fitz's focus on the short passing game inflated his own quarterback rating.

 

The best single measurement of a QB's performance is yards per attempt. Yards per pass attempt is to quarterbacks what yards per rushing attempt is to RBs. Elway's career yards per pass attempt was significantly higher than Holcomb's, correctly reflecting the fact that Elway was the better of the two quarterbacks.

 

This past season, Fitzpatrick finished 24th in yards per attempt. Based on yards per attempt, 23 other starting QBs had better 2012 seasons than Fitz. That seems about right to me.

[Bronc24]

 

 

You are using the wrong statistical measure. Quarterback rating is flawed because it takes completion percentage into account. If you use quarterback rating to compare a short passing game guy against someone who focused more on the deep game, the short passing game guy will look a lot better than he deserves. A good example of this is the fact that Kelly Holcomb and John Elway have almost identical career quarterback ratings. Holcomb's focus on the short passing game inflated his quarterback rating. Just as Fitz's focus on the short passing game inflated his own quarterback rating.

 

The best single measurement of a QB's performance is yards per attempt. Yards per pass attempt is to quarterbacks what yards per rushing attempt is to RBs. Elway's career yards per pass attempt was significantly higher than Holcomb's, correctly reflecting the fact that Elway was the better of the two quarterbacks.

 

This past season, Fitzpatrick finished 24th in yards per attempt. Based on yards per attempt, 23 other starting QBs had better 2012 seasons than Fitz. That seems about right to me.

 

Yep.

[Rob's House]

 

 

You are using the wrong statistical measure. Quarterback rating is flawed because it takes completion percentage into account. If you use quarterback rating to compare a short passing game guy against someone who focused more on the deep game, the short passing game guy will look a lot better than he deserves. A good example of this is the fact that Kelly Holcomb and John Elway have almost identical career quarterback ratings. Holcomb's focus on the short passing game inflated his quarterback rating. Just as Fitz's focus on the short passing game inflated his own quarterback rating.

 

The best single measurement of a QB's performance is yards per attempt. Yards per pass attempt is to quarterbacks what yards per rushing attempt is to RBs. Elway's career yards per pass attempt was significantly higher than Holcomb's, correctly reflecting the fact that Elway was the better of the two quarterbacks.

 

This past season, Fitzpatrick finished 24th in yards per attempt. Based on yards per attempt, 23 other starting QBs had better 2012 seasons than Fitz. That seems about right to me.

Let's not put too much stock into one statistic. Yes, it's one of the more useful stats, but it still only tells you part of the story. By this line of reasoning Juice Newton is the greatest.

[KOKBILLS]

 

I'm not going to judge what Doug Marrone does with Fitz based on what Fitz did playing QB for Chan Gailey. Gailey never taught Fitz how to run a 2 min drill on offense properly, nor did he teach the other Bills players how to run a "hurry up" offense to win the game. Lets see what Marrone can figure out to do with Fitz, and see if he is salvageable. I'm thinking he is at first, while Marrone gets a backup QB or rookie QB ready to take over. Meanwhile teaching Fitz how to do his job properly.

 

So...You're telling me the Harvard Grad did not know how to do his job properly because Gailey did not teach him properly?

 

Why is it still so hard for some to understand that Fitz has never really been good enough? He has not been, he's not now, and he likely never will be...Can we not strive for better?

 

Time to move on...It's just time...

[Bronc24]

 

 

So...You're telling me the Harvard Grad did not know how to do his job properly because Gailey did not teach him properly?

 

Why is it still so hard for some to understand that Fitz has never really been good enough? He has not been, he's not now, and he likely never will be...Can we not strive for better?

 

Time to move on...It's just time...

 

Yep.

[Dean Cain]

Argument against Fitz, where do I start? He sucks, he doesn't win. That's enough.

[Hater]

Its a New Era & its Time to Move On, In my Opinion Fitz & Chan are a Package Deal

[kasper13]

Fitz will not be the starter or the backup for the Bills in 2013. No way new coach, new OC are going with Fitz. 19-31 as starter, most of the wins against losing teams, has gotten worse each season, getting older, not going to pay him $7.25 mil to be a backup. Save $450,000 on the cap if they cut him. He is not the answer. Time to move on. Start new. End of story.

[BuffBill]

Let's not put too much stock into one statistic. Yes, it's one of the more useful stats, but it still only tells you part of the story. By this line of reasoning Juice Newton is the greatest.

Stats are for losers. You don't need stats, watch the freaking game, you will know how overrated Fitz's stats really are. When it is crunch time he chokes, almost every single time. He could go compete in the Punt, Pass and Kick contest with 12 year olds now and still not win the passing portion of it. He is a great guy, terrible quarterback, needs to go. Same goes with Alex Smith, his stats aren't great, but watch him play, he isn't Tom Brady but it isn't hard to have more confidence in him then in Fitz.

 

Fitz will not be the starter or the backup for the Bills in 2013. No way new coach, new OC are going with Fitz. 19-31 as starter, most of the wins against losing teams, has gotten worse each season, getting older, not going to pay him $7.25 mil to be a backup. Save $450,000 on the cap if they cut him. He is not the answer. Time to move on. Start new. End of story.

Totally agree. Gailey's insistence on keeping him as the Quarterback cost him his job. Should have cost Nix his too for not getting a QB in here sooner.

[Orton's Arm]

Stats are for losers. You don't need stats, watch the freaking game, you will know how overrated Fitz's stats really are. When it is crunch time he chokes, almost every single time. He could go compete in the Punt, Pass and Kick contest with 12 year olds now and still not win the passing portion of it. He is a great guy, terrible quarterback, needs to go. Same goes with Alex Smith, his stats aren't great, but watch him play, he isn't Tom Brady but it isn't hard to have more confidence in him then in Fitz.

 

Totally agree. Gailey's insistence on keeping him as the Quarterback cost him his job. Should have cost Nix his too for not getting a QB in here sooner.

 

> You don't need stats, watch the freaking game

 

The two aren't mutually exclusive. When I watched the game, I noticed that Fitz's throws were often inaccurate. Many of those inaccurate throws still resulted in catches, which means they didn't show up on the stats. But the stats in general--and the yards per attempt stat in particular--correctly reflects the level of performance I saw from Fitz.

[ganesh]

> You don't need stats, watch the freaking game

 

The two aren't mutually exclusive. When I watched the game, I noticed that Fitz's throws were often inaccurate. Many of those inaccurate throws still resulted in catches, which means they didn't show up on the stats. But the stats in general--and the yards per attempt stat in particular--correctly reflects the level of performance I saw from Fitz.

 

Agree. The yards/attempt provides a sense on his consistency, something he sorely lacked.

[mattsox]

Fire all QBs on the roster and root out the cancer of this team!

 

I agree. Time for a culture change at the QB Position!!!

[dave mcbride]

People wanting to dump Fitz should be careful what they wish for. Simply look at the Vikings game. There are a whole lotta of unacceptable backups in the NFL. Fitz would be a better than average backup. The question is whether we should pay for him. I say yes (I know it's not my money) because the Bills don't have a cap problem. Perhaps they can cut him and then outbid others in the marketplace. He'd come cheaper that way assuming he'd have any desire to come back.

[thewildrabbit]

You are using the wrong statistical measure. Quarterback rating is flawed because it takes completion percentage into account. If you use quarterback rating to compare a short passing game guy against someone who focused more on the deep game, the short passing game guy will look a lot better than he deserves. A good example of this is the fact that Kelly Holcomb and John Elway have almost identical career quarterback ratings. Holcomb's focus on the short passing game inflated his quarterback rating. Just as Fitz's focus on the short passing game inflated his own quarterback rating.

 

The best single measurement of a QB's performance is yards per attempt. Yards per pass attempt is to quarterbacks what yards per rushing attempt is to RBs. Elway's career yards per pass attempt was significantly higher than Holcomb's, correctly reflecting the fact that Elway was the better of the two quarterbacks.

 

This past season, Fitzpatrick finished 24th in yards per attempt. Based on yards per attempt, 23 other starting QBs had better 2012 seasons than Fitz. That seems about right to me.

Yea well, so many of you missed the points of my post.

 

IDGAF what Fitz did under Gailey as Chan was a moron. Did you miss the part where Fitz and the entire offense were clueless on how to run a 2 min / hurry up offense which is an integral part of any offense. I shudder at the thought of how many others areas of coaching Gailey effed up on I know that when the Bills hired David Lee in 2012 off season and he was tutoring Fitz on his mechanics Fitz mentioned that nobody previously had tried to work with him on his passing mechanics or techniques. So what does that tell you how much of an influence that Gailey had on Fitz 2010 & 2011. It tells me all Gailey did was call plays.

 

Then the BB receivers corps blows chunks. They have ONE player in the top 25 for receiving YARDS, ONE! The next best was ranked 77th! Scott Chandler who was injured quite a bit. Talk about limiting the QB's chances of success.

 

Under Gailey all the offense did was throw throw throw and to WHO? ONE GUY! In 4-5 WR sets. The Bills were 6th in the NFL last season in rushing, and could have easily been #1 if Gailey utilized Jackson and Spiller more in every game. More in passing, more in rushing. Even the moron himself declared that Jackson and Spiller should get 40 touches a game between the two of them. Yet he only did that in one game all season. (which they won btw) Spiller getting 7 touches a game was almost criminal.

 

17th or 24th, who cares! Way to pull out one stat and try and make everything else in the post irrelevant. Then you have some followers agreeing with you

I'm not going to judge what Doug Marrone does with Fitz based on what Fitz did playing QB for Chan Gailey. Gailey never taught Fitz how to run a 2 min drill on offense properly, nor did he teach the other Bills players how to run a "hurry up" offense to win the game. Lets see what Marrone can figure out to do with Fitz, and see if he is salvageable. I'm thinking he is at first, while Marrone gets a backup QB or rookie QB ready to take over. Meanwhile teaching Fitz how to do his job properly.

There were reasons that Gailey chose Fitz as his starter and kept him as his starter for 3 years.

 

First, is his escape-ability. In 2010 and under a great deal of pass rush in those first 8 games Fitz survived because he scrambled very much like Michael Vick to the tune of 6.7 YPC. Ranked 63rd in rushing 40 attempts 269 yards The man was literally running for his life for those first 8 games until Nix finally found some O line players off the waiver wire.

 

Second, is his ability to read the opposing defense and set O line protections accordingly. This might seem trivial to most of you, but its externally important in running a decent NFL offense. Again, this was ALL Fitz as Gailey couldn't teach this to any other QB. How many other QB's? Like 6 other QB's!

 

Third, was Fitz's ability to target the open WR and hit him with the ball in usually under 2.5 seconds,and sometimes as quickly as 1.5 seconds. For the most part his ability to get the ball out so quickly would negate any pass rush on the QB. Kinda why the O line stats looked so good with a bunch of nobody's at tackle.

 

So, while some of you more obtuse Bills fans are stoking the fires of your hatred for Fitz, why don't you temper it with the understanding that Fitz just might be the answer until Marrone can build a proper supporting cast around the QB.

[GG]

People wanting to dump Fitz should be careful what they wish for. Simply look at the Vikings game. There are a whole lotta of unacceptable backups in the NFL. Fitz would be a better than average backup. The question is whether we should pay for him. I say yes (I know it's not my money) because the Bills don't have a cap problem. Perhaps they can cut him and then outbid others in the marketplace. He'd come cheaper that way assuming he'd have any desire to come back.

 

It's more than the cap. The cap hit is the same whether he stays or goes. But, there's still a big chunk remaining under the guaranteed contract. It would be unwise to cut him outright, since they still have to pay him, and at worst, he is probably one of the best backup QBs in the league.