Maybe the Jets see something everyone else doesn’t, or the prospect of Geno Smith taking over scares them.
Either way, Ryan Fitzpatrick’s job appears safe for now. His concerning habit of repeatedly throwing to the other team hasn’t made the Jets think twice if he’s still the right choice under center. At least publicly, their stance hasn’t changed. They’re still confident in his abilities.
“No different from when the season started,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said after his team fell to 1-3, falling to the Seahawks, 27-17, at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
A week after throwing six interceptions, Fitzpatrick threw three more, and now already has 10, the most in the NFL through four games, after being picked all of 15 times last year. He is only the fifth player to throw that many in four games over the last 30 years, according to ESPN Stats and Info, and eight of his 10 picks have come in the fourth quarter.
Only one of his three interceptions came with the game in the balance, one of them was the direct result of a dropped past by rookie Robby Anderson that deflected to Seattle’s Earl Thomas, and the third came in the waning seconds, after the final result was no longer in doubt.
“He started out playing decent,” Bowles said. “Obviously, the two picks at the end — one should have been caught and was dropped, and and he was trying to make a play on the other. He played better than he played last week.
“I don’t worry about questions about his play. I just worry about turnovers. He knows he can’t have turnovers. Some of them are unfortunate and not the quarterback’s fault, but nevertheless, the quarterback runs the offense, so he can’t turn the ball over. We have to get better there.”
After all, the Jets have produced just 20 points over their last eight quarters, and seven of those came on a fluke fumble on Sunday that Charone Peake took 42 yards for a score. And the first interception he threw against the Seahawks was an absolute killer, with the Jets driving down just a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Fitzpatrick’s back shoulder pass for Brandon Marshall down the left sideline was picked off by Richard Sherman, the same exact route that had worked on the previous play. Four plays later, the Seahawks had a 14-point lead, following a Russell Wilson touchdown pass, and cruised to an easy victory. But Bowles didn’t fault Fitzpatrick.
“The guy is an All-Pro player,” Bowles said of Sherman. “He made an All-Pro play.”
A year after throwing 31 touchdown passes to set a franchise record, the 33-year-old Fitzpatrick is playing more like the journeyman quarterback who’s played for five teams. Who has thrown 15 or more interceptions four times. But the Jets aren’t ready to try anything different quite yet, apparently. And he isn’t second guessing himself, either.
“I’m just fine,” said Fitzpatrick, who talked more about team-wide struggles than his own issues.