Happy 37th birthday Ryan Fitzpatrick! His O-line can give him the best gift Sunday
Last Sunday was Ryan Fitzpatrick’s 150th career NFL appearance, and to celebrate, the Bills threw a party.
A sack party.
The Bills sacked Fitzpatrick seven times in their 37-10 victory. Only once in Fitzpatrick’s 15-year career had he been dropped more.
This Sunday, Ryan Fitzpatrick turns 37.
If he wants to play football at age 38 and beyond, he’d be well served to minimize the damage inflicted on his body — whether he wants to admit it’s a factor or not.
“Sometimes getting sacked doesn’t hurt as much as some of the other ones,” Fitzpatrick said this week during a break in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Browns. “It’s just one of those things — we went back, looked at the film and just like we had talked about, there’s a number of things that happen there.
“It’s not just one quick solution or one group. There are a lot of things I think I can solve whether pre- or post-snap and getting the ball out, so I’m going to control the things that I can control in that area and try to get better and take some pressure off those guys.”
Fitzpatrick is the ultimate team guy, so it’s no surprise he would shoulder some of the blame for his offensive line’s failures. But they are failures nonetheless. The Dolphins trotted out their seventh different starting O-line combination last week, and based on the result, it they should keep experimenting.
And yet ...
“I feel as good right now as I did – I was going to say Day 1 of the offseason — but maybe like, a few weeks into the offseason when I got back into shape,” Fitzpatrick said. “I feel really good right now.”
A little-known secret to Fitzpatrick’s longevity is his offseason regimen. Or more precisely, his lack thereof. He takes a few months off to recharge his body, and save his arm.
It has worked — even if, as he acknowledged Wednesday, Fitzpatrick has to put his entire body into some throws.
“I never had to rely on, or never had a big arm, so there’s a lot of different things that I do either to counteract that or just the way that I play and knowing my limitations and my strengths,” Fitzpatrick said. “But yeah, my arm is as strong, if not stronger now than it’s probably ever been. That’s not saying much — probably still puts me in the bottom half in the league.”
At least he’s still in the league. Of the 13 other quarterbacks drafted in 2005, only Aaron Rodgers can also say that.
That alone is a reason to celebrate.
This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 8:07 AM.
