The career of Ryan Fitzpatrick has been one of many ups and downs. Drafted in 2005 in the 7th round at number 250, Fitzpatrick already almost hit the coveted Mr. Irrelevant jersey from the moment he got into the league (luckily that was reserved for Andy Stokes) but his 15 year NFL career has proven that he has been far from just a lowly 7th round pick. By now clearly the journeyman quarterback, Fitzpatrick has played for 8 NFL franchises in his career: St. Louis Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and finally the Miami Dolphins. The thing about Ryan Fitzpatrick is his career has always been either great or terrible, there is no in between. This is a guy who either never saw the field or if he saw the field he was stinking it up OR he's breaking NFL records like three consecutive 400 yard passing games for the Bucs, then his outstanding performance against the 49ers this year. There really is a reason he's got two nicknames depending on his play: Fitzception or Fitzmagic.
The latter is the one I'm here to talk about, Ryan Fitzmagic. Over the last several years, honestly I think since Dan Marino left, the Miami Dolphins have been a pathetic team with no direction, barely able to put together any winning seasons: a couple of good Ryan Tannehill years was all they had. Last year, with a team that looked like it was tanking, when they finally put Ryan Fitzpatrick on the field it was Pat McAfee that said, "whether you want to or not you're putting Fitzmagic on the field he'll somehow win games for you, that's not how you want to tank" and he did, he won them games; the best being his awesome drive to put New England into a wild card game against the Titans in the playoffs which they lost (they'd have had a bye otherwise and who knows what would've happened then). So i want to put part of Fitzmagic's magic on getting Tom Brady out of New England cuz he stunk up the playoffs so badly. That led to the draft, well they were still pretty bad, so the Dolphins did have a high draft pick not to mention a bunch of other draft picks from teams they were sending all their players to; with the 5th pick they drafted injury-prone but still good Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa. Which meant that most people knew it was done for Fitzy in Miami but then when it came down to it, they decided to stick with Fitzpatrick because they needed a veteran to lead them and to show Tua how to play in the NFL. While it's too early to say so far, at 3-3 this year, 1 game back of the Buffalo Bills for 1st place in the AFC East this is the best version of the Dolphins we've seen in quite awhile.
Ryan Fitzpatrick has been playing lights out football this year and while a lot of people were expecting at some point this season to see Tua if the Dolphins were bad, with Fitzmagic in control of the situation and them winning games, 2nd place in their division there's no way they'd make the switch. But they did for next weeks game the Dolphins named Tua their starting quarterback. Fitzpatrick saw Tua out there for some garbage time plays when his team blew out the Jets and he was happy for the kids throws, clapping on the sidelines (I thought they were both not good throws but who knows). If Fitzy knew that he probably saw his last start and that Tua doing those two garbage time throws I don't know if he'd have been as happy for the kid; he probably would though because if anything Ryan Fitzpatrick has always been a professional.
Fitzpatrick finally talked to the media about his replacement as starter and this was what he had to say:
The latter is the one I'm here to talk about, Ryan Fitzmagic. Over the last several years, honestly I think since Dan Marino left, the Miami Dolphins have been a pathetic team with no direction, barely able to put together any winning seasons: a couple of good Ryan Tannehill years was all they had. Last year, with a team that looked like it was tanking, when they finally put Ryan Fitzpatrick on the field it was Pat McAfee that said, "whether you want to or not you're putting Fitzmagic on the field he'll somehow win games for you, that's not how you want to tank" and he did, he won them games; the best being his awesome drive to put New England into a wild card game against the Titans in the playoffs which they lost (they'd have had a bye otherwise and who knows what would've happened then). So i want to put part of Fitzmagic's magic on getting Tom Brady out of New England cuz he stunk up the playoffs so badly. That led to the draft, well they were still pretty bad, so the Dolphins did have a high draft pick not to mention a bunch of other draft picks from teams they were sending all their players to; with the 5th pick they drafted injury-prone but still good Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa. Which meant that most people knew it was done for Fitzy in Miami but then when it came down to it, they decided to stick with Fitzpatrick because they needed a veteran to lead them and to show Tua how to play in the NFL. While it's too early to say so far, at 3-3 this year, 1 game back of the Buffalo Bills for 1st place in the AFC East this is the best version of the Dolphins we've seen in quite awhile.
Ryan Fitzpatrick has been playing lights out football this year and while a lot of people were expecting at some point this season to see Tua if the Dolphins were bad, with Fitzmagic in control of the situation and them winning games, 2nd place in their division there's no way they'd make the switch. But they did for next weeks game the Dolphins named Tua their starting quarterback. Fitzpatrick saw Tua out there for some garbage time plays when his team blew out the Jets and he was happy for the kids throws, clapping on the sidelines (I thought they were both not good throws but who knows). If Fitzy knew that he probably saw his last start and that Tua doing those two garbage time throws I don't know if he'd have been as happy for the kid; he probably would though because if anything Ryan Fitzpatrick has always been a professional.
Fitzpatrick finally talked to the media about his replacement as starter and this was what he had to say:
It broke his heart...................it hurt and it broke his heart.
Ryan Fitzpatrick knew they'd replace him at some point but he was never informed by Coach Brian Flores beforehand, the media found out first, Fitzpatrick actually said his kids found out in text messages from their friends that Tua was starting before their dad found out. At another point in the conference he had mentioned that he then was stuck in a long Zoom meeting with Coach Flores and Tua, after not being informed in any way, essentially being treated like garbage by the Dolphins and then had to talk with the coach who did it to him and the kid that was taking his job. Like I mentioned, he's a pro, I'm sure if informed properly he'd be more level about it because Fitzpatrick has never really been this open with the media before. One of the things he said was this was honestly the first time since Buffalo that I felt like this was my team and these were my guys and that's a fair statement, his only long tenure as a starter was in Buffalo, other then that he's been a backup or something else. Which leads to one thing, at a 3-3 record, within striking distance of 1st place in the AFC East after being propelled by Ryan Fitzpatrick, a guy who is universally loved in the locker room by rookies and veterans alike, hearing him come out and say this stuff and finding out that he was never told by the Dolphins. Does that fracture the locker room ?? Not telling Fitzpatrick could've cost Brian Flores a lot of faith in his players in the locker room because a feeling of "what are they keeping from me?", "are they going to trade me without telling me?", "what's really going on here?" starts to creep in and could've all been avoided by telling Fitzpatrick.
Which brings me to this ??
Why the hell would the Miami Dolphins of all franchises decide, "oh we're doing good for once with Ryan Fitzpatrick let's flush that all down the drain and start the rookie". They are doing good so what point is there to start Tua, start him if you start falling so far behind that there's no point in continuing, if they continue to do well sit him for the year, that worked for Aaron Rodgers didn't it (not that I'm saying Fitzy is Favre but having a rookie sit a season isn't a terrible idea). All I see is a team that treats a quarterback as consumate a professional as Ryan Fitzpatrick like a pile of garbage by not informing him he's lost his job after not playing poorly, not playing well, but EXCEEDING expectations. Not only this but you've pretty much put the weight of the world on Tua now, a city that expects him to continue Fitzmagic's success, a team that expects him to play beyond well because he suddenly without warning replaced the guy they all liked, and you're expecting him now to outgunsling Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Tua was a good college QB but I'd give Ryan Fitzpatrick a better chance to outplay the Bills than Tua.
Honestly, because of this I hope the Miami Dolphins crash and burn and then when they need him again, Fitzmagic will rise from the ashes and take them...........probably to a wild card. Then Brian Flores and the rest of the Miami staff will realize keeping Tua benched for one year (which wouldn't hurt him) was probably the smarter idea.
I guess we'll see if Tua chokes hard when they play the Los Angeles Rams this weekend.
Ryan Fitzpatrick knew they'd replace him at some point but he was never informed by Coach Brian Flores beforehand, the media found out first, Fitzpatrick actually said his kids found out in text messages from their friends that Tua was starting before their dad found out. At another point in the conference he had mentioned that he then was stuck in a long Zoom meeting with Coach Flores and Tua, after not being informed in any way, essentially being treated like garbage by the Dolphins and then had to talk with the coach who did it to him and the kid that was taking his job. Like I mentioned, he's a pro, I'm sure if informed properly he'd be more level about it because Fitzpatrick has never really been this open with the media before. One of the things he said was this was honestly the first time since Buffalo that I felt like this was my team and these were my guys and that's a fair statement, his only long tenure as a starter was in Buffalo, other then that he's been a backup or something else. Which leads to one thing, at a 3-3 record, within striking distance of 1st place in the AFC East after being propelled by Ryan Fitzpatrick, a guy who is universally loved in the locker room by rookies and veterans alike, hearing him come out and say this stuff and finding out that he was never told by the Dolphins. Does that fracture the locker room ?? Not telling Fitzpatrick could've cost Brian Flores a lot of faith in his players in the locker room because a feeling of "what are they keeping from me?", "are they going to trade me without telling me?", "what's really going on here?" starts to creep in and could've all been avoided by telling Fitzpatrick.
Which brings me to this ??
Why the hell would the Miami Dolphins of all franchises decide, "oh we're doing good for once with Ryan Fitzpatrick let's flush that all down the drain and start the rookie". They are doing good so what point is there to start Tua, start him if you start falling so far behind that there's no point in continuing, if they continue to do well sit him for the year, that worked for Aaron Rodgers didn't it (not that I'm saying Fitzy is Favre but having a rookie sit a season isn't a terrible idea). All I see is a team that treats a quarterback as consumate a professional as Ryan Fitzpatrick like a pile of garbage by not informing him he's lost his job after not playing poorly, not playing well, but EXCEEDING expectations. Not only this but you've pretty much put the weight of the world on Tua now, a city that expects him to continue Fitzmagic's success, a team that expects him to play beyond well because he suddenly without warning replaced the guy they all liked, and you're expecting him now to outgunsling Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Tua was a good college QB but I'd give Ryan Fitzpatrick a better chance to outplay the Bills than Tua.
Honestly, because of this I hope the Miami Dolphins crash and burn and then when they need him again, Fitzmagic will rise from the ashes and take them...........probably to a wild card. Then Brian Flores and the rest of the Miami staff will realize keeping Tua benched for one year (which wouldn't hurt him) was probably the smarter idea.
I guess we'll see if Tua chokes hard when they play the Los Angeles Rams this weekend.