Ryan Fitzpatrick: The league's most average QB?
New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had a fantastic game on Thursday night, completing 24-of-34 passes for 374 yards and a touchdown in his team’s 37-31 road win over the Buffalo Bills.
Six days earlier, he was decidedly less productive in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, completing 19-of-35 passes for 189 yards.
And therein lies the reputation of the journeyman QB out of Harvard. Fitzpatrick will win you some games. He’ll be just another guy in others, but probably won’t lose you many. He’s the type of quarterback that won’t cause his fanbase to call for his backup, but not many fans are going out to buy his jersey either.
On today’s Grandstanding podcast, Kevin Kaduk proposes a theory: Ryan Fitzpatrick is the dividing line where the league’s good quarterbacks end and the bad ones begin. At least in the year 2016.
There’s evidence to back that up. Pro Football Reference’s “rate+” — a stat that normalizes quarterback rating in comparison to the leagues other passers — places Fitzpatrick 16th after two games. Right in the middle of the 31 other signal-callers, of course.
In the course of their discussion, co-hosts Jay Busbee and Frank Schwab propose adding a name to that line of demarcation: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. (Smith is 14th so far in PFR’s rate+.)
So does your starting quarterback rate below or above the Fitzpatrick-Smith line? And which games should you be circling for Sunday’s Week 2 slate? Listen to the latest Grandstanding to find out.
About the Grandstanding podcast: Hosted by Yahoo Sports writers Jay Busbee and Kevin Kaduk, the Grandstanding podcast is posted three times per week and features talk about the NFL, NBA, MLB and more. To receive Grandstanding on your smartphone, subscribe via your favorite podcast provider
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