Stop laughing: The Jets will be better with Ryan Fitzpatrick | Politi
on August 11, 2015 at 6:00 PM, updated August 11, 2015 at 7:27 PM
Steve Politi
FLORHAM PARK — So now the Jets pin their hopes on a 32-year-old Harvard graduate on his sixth team with a wet noodle for an arm — at least, that is, until there is some tragic training-camp accident and his shaggy beard gets sucked into a JUGS machine.
We're joking, but if you're reading this, Ryan Fitzpatrick, please be careful. The latest story from Jets camp is the clearest evidence yet that they've built their headquarters here on some ancient Indian circus grounds. No one is safe from the black hole of nonsense.
Still: Assuming Fitzpatrick doesn't step off a curb and vanish into the world's largest pothole, the news that Geno Smith suffered a broken jaw in a locker room fight might actually be ... good?
Not good for Smith. It's an awful, terrible thing, and no matter what Cris Carter and others were saying on TV, it had nothing to do with his leadership. I don't believe that Smith would ever become a reliable NFL quarterback, but he has mostly said and done the right things under difficult circumstances since arriving from West Virginia.
Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick comfortable in Chan Gailey's offense
After the injury to New York Jets starting quarterback Geno Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick is now the starter. He says he feels comfortable because he knows the coordinator Chan Gailey's offense. (Video by John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Let's not lose sight of this: Smith was the one who got punched in the face, not the other way around. He did not deserve this career detour, even if the dispute was over money.
But it's entirely possible that the Jets are a better offense today than they were yesterday. Yes, Fitzpatrick is a limited player, but he was better than Smith in virtually every measurable way last season, and significantly better at protecting the football that the turnover machine than Smith has been over the past two seasons.
From 2014:
Fitzpatrick: 12 games, 63.1 completion percentage, 2,483 yards, 17 touchdowns, eight interceptions and three fumbles.
Smith: 14 games, 59.7 completion percentage, 2,525, yards, 13 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and three fumbles.
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Maybe Smith would have taken another step forward in his third season — he was, by all accounts, having a good training camp. But in Fitzpatrick, the Jets have a competent veteran replacement who, at the very least, is significantly better than Jets backups from recent years.
"For me, I feel like I've gotten better every year," Fitzpatrick said. "If I didn't have confidence in myself, I wouldn't be standing in front of you. I'd be sailing off into the sunset with a career nobody thought I'd have."
Fitzpatrick knows the offense, having played under offensive coordinator Chan Gailey in Buffalo. He will have, in Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, two quality targets.
The Jets offense should have improved no matter who was starting at quarterback, and Fitzpatrick might not be a significant step up from Smith. But he certainly isn't a step down, and the fact that he's faced some unique situations in his vagabond career can't hurt, either.
"I've seen some things," is how Fitzpatrick put it, but it's hard to imagine that a starting quarterback getting slugged in the face in the locker room doesn't top that list. It's tempting to put this one in the "Same Old Jets" file, that tattered manila folder that is so chock full of garbage that it barely closes anymore, but this is another level entirely.
This is worse than Rex Ryan facing the media glare over a foot-fetish video, worse than the Butt Fumble, worse than Brett Favre's private parts ending up on the internet, worse than any of the many first-round draft picks that were booed out of Radio City Music Hall.
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Head coach Todd Bowles was the stand-up guy who was going to bring discipline and accountability to this team, but that's the thing, isn't it? It doesn't matter who's running the team. The Jets are always going to be the Jets, a blighted franchise far better at creating punchlines than championships.
Bowles handled this as best as he could, immediately cutting IK Enemkpali for throwing the punch and addressing the team in a speech he said contained "too many expletives to come out here and say in public." Maybe he'll get the message across.
His mood seemed to alternate between angry and exasperated. "I knew what I was getting into," Bowles said, and he was referring to the crises that all NFL head coaches face during the course of the season.
Still, the Elizabeth native hasn't even coached a preseason game, and already he's faced Sheldon Richardson's high-speed arrest and now a Jet-on-Jet assault on his starting quarterback.
The only saving grace is that his backup might actually be an upgrade. Just keep his beard away from the JUGS machine. Please?
Steve Politi may be reached at
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