Ryan Fitzpatrick has been the worst quarterback in football through the first six weeks of the season, but that is not going to cost him his starting job — at least not yet.
Fitzpatrick was benched in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s blowout loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Despite the 33-year-old’s red zone interception, New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles said Fitzpatrick remains the team’s starter.
“It was like a relief pitcher if the starting pitcher isn’t doing it this game, this day, you put in a relief pitcher,” Bowles said of bringing in Geno Smith, per Brian Costello of the New York Post. “Fitz will be back next week.”
Smith told ESPN’s Lisa Salters before Monday’s game that he is “getting antsy.”
“As a competitor I want to play at all times. I think you guys know that,” he said. “I can’t reiterate that enough, but it’s not about me, never has been. We’re 1-and-whatever. We have to pull ourselves out of the hole, no matter who it is, no matter how we spark this thing. We’ve got to figure out a way to get some wins and really get our offense going and get into position to feel good about ourselves. Right now, we don’t.”
Even veteran wide receiver Brandon Marshall admitted the Jets are not a good team, which is interesting considering the comments he made after last week’s loss.
It’s hard to say if the 2015 season — when Fitzpatrick set a Jets franchise record with 31 touchdown passes — was a fluke, but missing most of the offseason program clearly didn’t help. Fitzpatrick now has 11 interceptions, which is the most in the NFL. Worse yet, he has thrown no touchdowns and all 11 of those picks in the second half. Smith may end up getting his shot if this continues.
