Flores ‘confident’ Ryan Fitzpatrick will bounce back, but history suggests otherwise
Thanks to an improved offensive line, Ryan Fitzpatrick got through his 16th season opener relatively unscathed.
But once he reached the dressing room after the Dolphins’ 10-point loss to the Patriots on Sunday, a different kind of pain set in.
“You walk into the locker room after the game when you know you didn’t do your best as a quarterback and you let the team down, that’s hard,” said Fitzpatrick, who threw three costly interceptions and no touchdowns in the opener. “It’s hard to face those guys. The best thing that I’ve learned is to just pour everything I have into the next week of preparation and the next game.”
He added: “... Obviously, you don’t want to have weeks like I had last week. That can’t happen if we’re going to win football games.”
It’s a new week, and Dolphins fans naturally are hoping for the best — a quick improvement this coming Sunday, with Fitzpatrick playing at the level he did the second half of last season.
Bad news for them: That’s far from given, and based on Fitzpatrick’s history, not even likely.
Sunday was the 18th time in Fitzpatrick’s career he threw three or more interceptions in a game.
Four of those 17 previous instances occurred in his last game of that season, which eliminated the possibility of a quick bounce back.
But the 13 times in which he had the chance to redeem himself, he rarely did.
In games after three-interception outings, Fitzpatrick completed a combined 57.1 percent of his attempts, averaged 6.3 yards per pass and had a passer rating of 69.5.
By way of comparison, his career averages for those three stats are 60.3 percent, 6.9 and 81.3.
“He’s a competitive player,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said. “That’s what makes me confident [he’ll bounce back this week]. He’s a competitor. He’s had success in this league.
“... He played a tough game. I think everyone feels like they could’ve played better, feels like it could’ve been better last week,” Flores continued. “... I have confidence that he will play well and the entire team will do everything they can to play well this week.”
They will need to.
The Bills, this week’s opponent, might have more talent on defense than the Patriots.
Cornerback Tre’Davious White and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds made the Pro Bowl last year. Defensive tackle Ed Oliver is a first-round pick. Micah Hyde has forced 20 turnovers in his eight-year career. And Jerry Hughes has had four or more sacks in each of the past eight seasons.
Buffalo’s defense forced two turnovers in the Bills’ Week 1 win over the Jets. Sam Darnold went just 21 of 35 for 215 yards — and those numbers included a 69-yard touchdown pass.
Fitzpatrick appears to have caught a break, however. He should have his favorite target, DeVante Parker, available — barring a setback. Parker practiced in pads on a limited basis Wednesday, just three days after leaving the Patriots game due to a recurring hamstring injury.
The Dolphins’ offense is empirically better with Parker on the field. However, Fitzpatrick at times does seem to get a little too reliant on Parker and tight end Mike Gesicki, and more than once Sunday either
didn’t see or chose not to throw to other open targets.
Fitzpatrick’s explanation:
“New England is such a big man team, so a lot of time it’s who’s going to win the one-on-one matchup? When you play against a zone defense, sometimes the progression comes in a little bit more in that regard, if you’re reading top down or left to right. Some of it was me not making the right throw or picking the right matchup. Just stuff I need to get better at. For me, knowing that there’s things that I need to do to improve, I think I can get those done and I think we’ll be in a better spot this week.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Flores ‘confident’ Ryan Fitzpatrick will bounce back, but history suggests otherwise."
