Roughed up Ryan Fitzpatrick on his Dolphins’ debut: We got ‘embarrassed’

A year ago, Ryan Fitzpatrick was living his best life.

Fifty-two weeks later, he was running for it.

Fitzpatrick’s Dolphins debut was nothing like his 2018 opener, when he had a monster game for the Buccaneers.

But that team had Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson.

The Dolphins’ leading receiver Sunday had three catches.

And an offensive line that couldn’t stop anyone.

The result: Ravens 59, Dolphins 10 — the most lopsided regular-season loss in the franchise’s 54-year history.

“It’s never good to be embarrassed like that, especially at this level,” Fitzpatrick said. “What we had talked about: nobody is going to feel sorry for you and your situation. That’s what happens. You go out there and if you don’t execute, you’re going to get beat bad like that. Obviously we need to play better, which is an understatement.”

Collectively and individually.

When the game was still in doubt, Fitzpatrick threw a bad pick into double, if not triple coverage. Earl Thomas jumped Kenyan Drake’s seam route and made the play.

The next time the Dolphins got the ball, they were down 21 points. The running game, which was supposed to be Fitzpatrick’s ally, was basically done for the day.

Before getting pulled in the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick completed 14 of 29 passes for 185 yards. He had a touchdown to Preston Williams to go along with his pick.

But he was also under constant duress. The Dolphins’ offensive line, which started two players who weren’t even on the roster two weeks ago, allowed three sacks, six tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits.

Lost in the carnage Sunday: Fitzpatrick broke his own NFL record by starting for his eighth different team in his career. And despite his struggles Sunday, he will start next week against the Patriots, Dolphins coach Brian Flores said.

“Obviously we all had a much different outcome dreamed about in our head of how it was going to go today,” Fitzpatrick said, “and I think the only thing we can do moving forward is continue to try to string good practices together and continue to keep a positive attitude, and in doing that, hope that the results follow.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2019 at 5:31 PM.