If the ship is sinking — and right now it is being buffeted by a hurricane in the stormiest of seas — then Brandon Marshall will go down with Ryan Fitzpatrick for as long as Fitzpatrick is the captain.
The Jets are 1-3 and suddenly in crisis with road games upcoming in Pittsburgh and Arizona, with a defense that was toyed with by the hobbled Russell Wilson, and with a quarterback who has engineered one touchdown drive against nine interceptions over the last two weeks and threw the killer pick that changed the momentum of Sunday’s 27-17 loss to the Seahawks.
Marshall, remember, lobbied long and hard for Fitzpatrick during the quarterback’s contract impasse with management and was among the Win Now Jets who were thrilled when he returned as the $12 Million Man.
“I’m standing in the ship with him,” Marshall said softly at his locker in a morgue of a locker room. “Obviously right now, we’re all looking each other in the eyes and holding each other accountable and pushing each other, but at the end of the day, I’m going down with the ship with him. I don’t like how any of us are playing — him, myself, all the starters — we gotta pick it up and play better.”
Asked if the Jets needed to assess the quarterback position, Marshall leaned down to address the follow-up question and made himself perfectly clear:
“I am … going down in a boat with Ryan Fitzpatrick,” Marshall said. “OK? You got it? So can you not ask me any more questions about that?
“I am … going down … in the boat with No. 14.”
Todd Bowles has one hull of a problem because there are leaks to plug all over the ship.
And when you ask Fitzpatrick (21-for-43, 261 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs) to win you a game, without Eric Decker, without the semblance of a running game (20 for 58) or tight end (0-0), against a smart, tough, fast defense like the Seahawks, you are asking for trouble.
“I am shocked,” Marshall said. “I expect more out of our offense. Every year is different. … It’s just a little deflating, man, you think you’re really close, and right when you think it’s gonna be easy whether in sport or life, you get slapped in the face and humbled. It’s disappointing, but that’s just the story of life. It’s never easy. This is hard, football’s hard, and it’s not for the weary.”
Fitzpatrick’s career 2015 season offered hope that he might finally get off his roller coaster, even after his three picks in the fourth quarter of the regular-season finale cost him — and Marshall — their first playoff berth. But his 2016 start (4 TDs, 10 INTs) offers more anguish to a fan base and a franchise still desperate for a franchise quarterback after all these post-Namath years.
Marshall’s admirable loyalty to Fitzpatrick isn’t surprising. The Jets made him the $12 Million Man because they trust him far more than they trust Geno Smith, case closed.
In fairness to Fitzpatrick, his second interception was a deflection off the hands of Robby Anderson. His third came in the final minute on a pass Marshall wasn’t expecting.
It was the first of Richard Sherman’s two picks that was the most alarming. Fitzpatrick had found Marshall (4-89-1 TD) down the left sideline for 17 yards, against Sherman, pass interference declined. Fitzpatrick looked left again for Marshall, who had beaten Sherman on a first-half go route for a 17-yard TD. But found Sherman instead.
“We felt like we could hang the ball up there a little bit and let me kinda jump ball,” Marshall said. “The timing was right, but he just came off of me, I think he may have had help over the top, so he played the back shoulder. There’s nothing you can really do about that. He’s a really smart player.”
Bowles understandably is prepared to go down in the boat with No. 14 as well, because when asked about his confidence level in Fitzpatrick, he said: “No different than when the season started.”
So there it is: Sink-or-swim with Fitz. Same as it was when the season started.
“I definitely need to make more plays, it starts with me,” Marshall said. “The older guys need to make more plays, they need to be put in position to make plays. It’s a team thing — Coach, player, execution … it’s on all of us.”
Fitzpatrick targeted Marshall 12 times against Sherman.
“He’s our guy,” Fitzpatrick said.
And Fitzpatrick is Marshall’s guy.
“I’m still confident in our guys, I’m still confident in our offense and the things that we can do,” Fitzpatrick said.
This Jets team wasn’t built for Fitzpatrick to carry it. He clearly needs more help from an underachieving defense that could not get Wilson off his spot and could not communicate in the secondary. He’s been a fighter, at least, and his resiliency will be tested yet again.
“It takes a little longer each week when you perform like this to get over a loss,” Marshall said. “But if we want to be in position at the end of the year, we gotta get over it fast.”
Before Captain Fitzpatrick’s boat sinks.