Titans sign Fitzpatrick

nickmsmith · Mar 19, 2013

IMO, The Titans are making all of the right moves. Happy with this offseason, and I am (was)one of the more disgruntled Titans fans out there. Last year was the most vanilla, boring, lifeless roster ever assembled in Nashville.

LANGSTER · Mar 19, 2013

what was the money on this deal?

JCBRAVE · Mar 19, 2013

LANGSTER said: ↑

what was the money on this deal?

unknown right now, but I'm guessing its $2M/yr

titansrule00000 · Mar 19, 2013

I like this signing, but I hope we use the money we gained to bring in some more defensive players!

Tennessy XO · Mar 19, 2013

JCBRAVE said: ↑

I dont particularly like CJ much these days, but he's still burning guys when he wants to.

Clearly the video cannot be taken seriously due to the use of Donald Glover.

The Hammer · Mar 19, 2013

FromTheNorth said: ↑

If you go trolling through the Bills message board, you'll see that about 75% of the posters can't stand Fitz at this point---

Are you talking about "2 Bills Drive" when you mention Bills message board? I am familiar with it. Would estimate about 75% of the knuckle-draggers there have a TWW2 mindset--a GoTitans poster who wants Vince Young back as starter.

FromTheNorth said: ↑

The Bills made a huge mistake letting him go. The Bills message board--- other than a few objective folks--- don't get it: Fitz was not the problem. Now the Bills have... Tavaris Jackson going into the draft? A guy who didn't even suit up most of last season!

Oh boy.

I think Tennessee got a steal.

I live in Bills territory and have seen most Bills games and could not agree more. Which is why I am thrilled to see him sign with the Titans. All the friends I have who are Bills fans agree with you. They were upset Buddy Nix overpaid Fitzy and did not see him as a long term solution. However, they saw him as a great holdover until a long term solution could be worked out.

Titanup1982 · Mar 19, 2013

FromTheNorth said: ↑

Hello everyone! I'm new here. In fact, I joined this board just to discuss the Fitzpatrick signing. See, I'm a Bills fan normally.... but I'm an even bigger Fitz fan. (Which means I now have a second favorite team! I actually lived a year in Nashville back in the 90s, and thought it was a great town. I bought my first guitar there; lived up near Vandy and Music Row.)

Anyhow, first I'll try to give you the lowdown of what the Bills fanbase has been saying about Fitz over the last year. Then I'll try to give you some data. Then I'll give you my take, for what it's worth.

If you go trolling through the Bills message board, you'll see that about 75% of the posters can't stand Fitz at this point--- some of them really, really can't stand him. There are about maybe 10% who think Fitz is a good to great QB and think that cutting him was idiotic (I am in that camp.) Then there are about 15% of the people who are neutral.

As far as I can fathom, here are the main criticisms the haters have over Fitz:

He can't throw the long ball.
He throws a lot of interceptions, especially at the wrong time when the game is on the line.
He is inaccurate, even with the short passes. He throws behind or over his receivers, putting them in danger.
His win loss record is poor.

There is some truth to these criticisms. Here is my take on them:

He CAN throw the long ball. The guy CAN throw deep. Youtube "Terrell Owens Ryan Fitzpatrick" to see the longest pass play in Bills history-- 99 yards with about 50 in the air. One of the most beautiful pass plays I've ever seen. You really should take a look. The thing is, although he CAN do it, he doesn't often actually do it. I don't know why that is.

The interceptions: This has some truth to it as well. What people were getting tired of was that he would play lights out for three quarters... and just when the game was on the line... the Bills were headed to a game winning score---- Fitz would throw a terrible interception. This happened more times than anyone would like to recall. Even I--- a Fitz fan--- was getting tired of it.

Here's the thing, though: Through week 11, the Bills D was on pace to allow the most number of points in the HISTORY OF THE NFL. They got marginally better the last third of the season. When in four out of the first 7 games your D allows 48, 52, 45 and 35, your QB is going to be forced to try to make plays that aren't there.

In addition to the D putting him in an almost impossible position time and time again, the head coach was an utter misery at play calling... making idiotic call after idiotic call. In the previous season, Fitz had free reign to change the play at the line--- see the Owens pass above-- but last season Gailey (the coach) stopped him from doing that. This was just plain dumb.

One of Fitz' strongest suits is reading defenses. You have to let him change the play at the line if he sees something.

As far as accuracy: It think that criticism is kind of BS. The stats don't lie. Fitz had a completion percentage of 60.6% this year. That was 16th best out of 32 starters. That is exactly average. However, passing require TWO players... and the Bills had a very weak wide receiver corps..... In fact....

It would have been better if we hadn't had three receivers who dropped a huge number of balls. TJ Graham, Stevie Johnson and tight end Scott Chandler. TJ Graham (Bills first round draft pick last year) and Johnson (our #1 receiver) were BOTH in the top 16 for dropped balls in the NFL, dropping a total of 14 combined.
http://stats.washingtonpost.com/fb/leaders.asp?range=nfl&type=receiving&rank=232

OK, now here's the thing:

Fitz was the first Bills QB since Jim Kelly to throw over 23 TD passes for three seasons in a row.
Fitz had the 17th highest passer rating out of 32 starters last season.
He had the highest QB rating of his entire career last season. He actually got BETTER.
He's passed for over 14,000 yards in his career.

My final point:

In the right system, with two decent wideouts, a defense that isn't giving up the most points in the history of the NFL, and a coach who can call a good play and allow him to change the play at the line, Fitz can be a good QB. I still have hope that he can be a GREAT QB. He is tough as nails--- typically throws one block for his RB per game--- and will stand up to anyone. His teammates loved him. (I actually had a chance to meet him and his wife. They are great people.)

And yeah, he's a genius, too. Second highest Wonderlic. Harvard grad. Blah blah blah.

The Bills made a huge mistake letting him go. The Bills message board--- other than a few objective folks--- don't get it: Fitz was not the problem. Now the Bills have... Tavaris Jackson going into the draft? A guy who didn't even suit up most of last season!

Oh boy.

I think Tennessee got a steal.

I hope he comes in and takes y'all to the playoffs. He's exciting to watch. I know I'll be watching if he ever gets a start for you.

I'd be glad to try to answer any questions if you have any.

Man, that was an awesome post. Even though I caught one little mistake in that TJ Graham wasn't a 1st rounder, he went in the 3rd

Also, I highlighted something that we had a huge issue dealing with ourselves.

Again, great post and thanks for the detailed insight.

Riverman · Mar 19, 2013

Ghost said: ↑

I am starting to think TST had a brief homosexual experience with VY and VY never called back.

The entire Titans fanbase and organization had a homosexual experience with VY.....so to speak.....

UrbanLegend3 · Mar 19, 2013

Riverman said: ↑

The entire Titans fanbase and organization had a homosexual experience with VY.....so to speak.....

I see what you did there. Clever.

TheSureThing · Mar 19, 2013

whoever is calling him inaccurate should go watch Jake Locker play...

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