Ryan Fitzpatrick outing a cause for Dolphins celebration. But can there be duplication? | Opinion
The good news about Ryan Fitzpatrick’s work Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers is it strengthens his hold on the Miami Dolphins starting quarterback job.
The bad news about Ryan Fitzpatrick’s work Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers is it strengthens his hold on the Miami Dolphins starting quarterback job.
Fitzpatrick was great during Miami’s 43-17 whipping of the 49ers.
He threw three touchdown passes. He threw for 350 yards. He was accurate on deep throws and short. It was perhaps his best game as a Dolphin.
And because this performance was so convincingly good, it’s going to be awhile before we again hear about whether backup Tua Tagovailoa should be starting a game for the 2020 Dolphins.
Such rumblings of uncertainty were heard even within the Dolphins organization last week.
But that discussion has been silenced. And because Miami’s next opponent, the New York Jets, have so far been so embarrassingly atrocious, it seems likely there will be no such Tagovailoa talk following Miami’s upcoming victory over that team and the bye week that will follow.
So Fitz is the man now, no doubt about it. And he’s likely to remain the man for a while.
Except, that raises a problem that won’t go away simply because the Dolphins hope it will: Fitz is still Fitz.
And the longer he’s is the man, the longer the Dolphins won’t have a franchise quarterback playing the sport’s most important position. The longer Fitzpatrick has a lock on Miami’s quarterback job, the further the Dolphins will be from getting Tagovailoa — a player with franchise quarterback potential — into the lineup.
Said another way, Sunday’s great outing by Fitzpatrick helped in the short-term because it gave Miami a win. But it probably hurts in the long run because if the Dolphins are ever going to start winning championships, it will most definitely be with someone else at quarterback.
So we remain on the treadmill ride to mediocre at best.
Fitz, great this week, could easily deliver one of his stinkers when the Dolphins come off their bye against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 1 — and not because the Rams are necessarily great on defense.
But because Fitz is still Fitz.
Inconsistent.
“I think he’s played well most of the year,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said after Sunday’s victory. “He’s had some bad moments, but I think we’ve all had some bad moments. I think every player in our locker room has had some rough moments, but I think he’s been pretty consistent really the whole way through.
“We said earlier in the week, we feel like [he] gives us the best chance to win, and I thought he played well today. The guys rallied around him and his energy, he’s got great leadership. Again, if he plays the way he played today it really kind of permeates throughout the team.”
Fitzpatrick and Flores are truly made for one another.
Fitzpatrick is forever the best guy to play when compared to any raw rookie or young player such Josh Rosen or Tagovailoa. And Flores is nothing if not near-sighted about everything football.
His vision reaches only as far as the next play. Or the next practice. Or the next game.
It’s never about next year or the next five years.
So, of course, the coach sees Fitzpatrick as Miami’s best fit for right now. Even though the right now guy isn’t the best fit for the team’s long-term interests.
This may sound harsh against the backdrop of Fitzpatrick’s great performance Sunday. But the truth is inarguable. Fitzpatrick’s long history clearly says Sunday’s outing, which merited celebration and admiration, is unlikely to see duplication.
Because that isn’t what he has done the previous 15 years of his NFL career. What that long and proven history strongly, strongly suggests is that as surely as Fitzpatrick delivered a gem on Sunday, he’s almost certainly going to deliver a lump of coal soon enough.
And, meanwhile, Tagovailoa continues to watch from the sideline. The team’s top draft pick continues to ride the Fitzpatrick roller coaster with the rest of the Dolphins.
Not that Fitzpatrick worries about that stuff. In fact, he was probably the most sober person on the Dolphins after Sunday’s California points binge. He understands perhaps better than anyone that one good performance guarantees, well, nothing going forward.
“There’s a long way to go and we’ve got to start stringing some wins together,” Fitzpatrick said. “I definitely think this helps in terms of team morale and confidence, but we’ve got to use this momentum, carry it over, have some good practices and continue to go out there and play well.”
That’s not his history, folks.
Fitzpatrick’s history is reaching some pretty impressive heights. And then crashing from those peaks.
The Dolphins act as if that history doesn’t exist and Fitzpatrick can stay on a consistent plane the rest of the season. That would be good news. But it’s more likely fake news.
And while the news unfolds before our eyes, Tua Tagovailoa waits.
And waits.
And waits.
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 8:45 AM.
