Like a Fine Wine, Vintage Miami Dolphins' Ryan Fitzpatrick is the Toast of South Beach
Ryan Fitzpatrick shows no signs of slowing down, the Miami Dolphins quarterback gearing up for Week 6 against the New York Jets. For two seasons starting in 2015, Fitzpatrick was the Jets starting quarterback at a very different time for both organizations.
In Sunday’s Dolphins win over the San Francisco 49ers, the ageless Fitzpatrick was flawless. He finished 22-of-38 for 350 yards with three touchdowns in orchestrating an impressive road win. It was the type of performance from Fitzpatrick that the Jets enjoyed in 2015 when he led the team to a surprising 10-6 record and, very nearly, a playoff berth.
“I think he brings a veteran leadership experience. I think he has a joy – he just brings a joy for playing the game that is infectious,” Dolphins head coach Brian Flores told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday.
“I say it all of the time, it’s almost like he brings a Pop Warner attitude where he just wants to play and there’s not like a – I don’t want to call it business but he has fun playing the game. I think that’s infectious and other guys see that. He brings energy, he brings juice and guys feed off of it. That’s been good. He’s also been productive.
“At the end of the day, it’s a production business. I think we all know that. If you can have energy and juice and [can] be productive, guys feed off of it and hopefully they’re productive because of that same energy, and that’s a good thing. This league is about consistency and that’s something we’ve harped on with really all of our players. It’s one thing to do it one time. Whether or not you can do it over and over and over again is the mark of whether or not you’re good, for lack of a better term.”
The Jets are a far cry from that 2015 roster where Fitzpatrick produced one of the best passing seasons in franchise history.
At 0-5, the Jets are going nowhere, coming off their third blowout loss of the still young season this past Sunday to the Arizona Cardinals. The team is currently in the depths of a much-needed rebuild but with questions about the viability of head coach Adam Gase, another rebuild may not be far off.
It seems like a perpetual cycle of rebooting. Miami, after a big offseason and a tremendous NFL Draft, have momentum in their own rebuild.
The Dolphins under Flores, however, seem to be pointed in the right direction. Even though their record is 2-3, none of their losses were blowouts and they battled hard against the New England Patriots in the season opener as well as the Buffalo Bills, who are undefeated.
A major reason for their success is the play of Fitzpatrick.
Set to turn 38-years old, Fitzpatrick is showing no signs of slowing down. With 1,344 passing yards and seven touchdowns (five interceptions), Fitzpatrick is on pace to break his career-best season in 2015 with the Jets. That campaign goes down as the second-best passing season in Jets franchise history.
Ironically, the Jets start a stop-gap quarterback on Sunday in Joe Flacco. With Sam Darnold (shoulder) out for a second-straight week, the veteran Flacco will get the nod. The Jets quarterback situation is far from settled and not nearly as productive as when Fitzpatrick was with the Jets.
Darnold may not be the Jets future, with durability questions and a lack of progress behind a poor offensive line and with an injured group of playmakers.
Then there is Fitzpatrick, seemingly thriving. In addition to being on pace to top 4,000 passing ayrds for the first time in his career, he also has a career-high completion percentage.
It is a sign that even in his sixteenth year in the league, he continues to develop and progress as a quarterback.
There is a certain resilience to the Harvard-educated Fitzpatrick, one that can’t be measured by arm strength. He’s managed to adapt and adjust as he’s aged in the NFL, a fine bottle of wine who is currently the toast of South Beach.
“I just think as the years have gone on for me, I’ve become more accurate. I’ve become a better decision-maker, but more accurate in the way that I’m throwing the football, and I think that’s shown up a little bit this year,” Fitzpatrick said on Wednesday.
“I don’t know. Also for me, it’s not necessarily about the physical anymore. I mean I think I could still make all the throws, but it’s never really been about that for me; so feeling comfortable in this system, feeling comfortable with the guys I’m playing with and right now, just spreading the ball around. There’s been other years and seasons where we haven’t either had as much talent or we’ve had one superstar where he’s getting force-fed a lot of the time. I think with the group right now, we’ve got a lot of really talented guys that have different skillsets. And we’ve said that in the past, but I think with the ball being spread out more, that’s also helped with my efficiency and accuracy a little bit.”
