Ryan Fitzpatrick did something on Sunday that Mark Sanchez never did, even on his worst day as a Jets quarterback. Fitzpatrick, the $12 million man, threw six interceptions in the Jets 24-3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
And to be honest, almost all of them were his fault as he forced the ball into tight coverage, sometimes throwing the football up in ill-advised situations. Of the eight turnovers (that's right eight turnovers) the Jets had on Sunday, almost all of them led to points for Kansas City.Whether it be the very first interception that Fitzpatrick threw into the hands of Marcus Peters that led to a Travis Kelce 12-yard touchdown scamper on a swing pass from Alex Smith, or Jalin Marshall fumbling a kick return into the hands of Demetrius Harris, who brought it back for six more points, this game was a nightmare for Gang Green.
This is not to say that the Jets defense was anything special. They allowed Kansas City to move up and down at will against them. Alex Smith was deadly accurate completing 25 of 33 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown. Smith focused on the underneath game and picked apart the Jets secondary. With 6:11 to go before halftime, Kansas City held the football for over 16 minutes, while New York had the ball for barley seven minutes. It was flat out domination.
Yet, here were the Jets with a chance. Down 17-3, New York had a shot to get back into this game, but Fitzpatrick prevented the comeback from happening. Had New York comeback it would have been their greatest road comeback ever. Why? They've never won a game when trailing by 14 or more on the road...EVER!! That record will continue thanks to Fitz-tragic.
Midway through the third quarter the Jets got a huge break when the officials took away a Specner Ware touchdown. A very close play at the pylon, but the officials ruled that he was bobbling the ball while heading for the corner. Replay was pretty inconclusive, the touchdown should have stood, but it did not.
The Jets got lucky, and they should have taken full advantage. The cruelest part is that they were actually moving the football, and on their way to making the seemingly impossible possible. New York moved the football 75 yards down field, with Fitzpatrick connecting with Quincy Enunwa on a number of occasions. Yet, when asked to make a big throw on second and goal at the five, Fitzpatrick came up small. He tried to force a pass inside to Bilal Powell, but the ball was tipped up in the air by Derrick Johnson and into the hands of Eric Berry.
Instead of it being 17-10 in the third quarter, it was still 17-3.
But wait, it got worse. Again the Jets defense forced a Kansas City three-and-out. And again Fitzpatrick had the Jets within striking distance for the touchdown. And again he turned it over. This time he tried to force the ball into Enunwa, but like the previous interception, the ball was tipped in the air and picked off by Peters.
What started off as a horrific way to waste a scoring opportunity, soon became a sideshow as Fitzpatrick would cap off the Jets remaining three drives with a pick. The icing on the cake came on Fitzpatrick's fifth interception of the day, which was brought back 55-yards to pay dirt by Johnson to make it 24-3.
For $12 million this is not what the Jets envisioned with their quarterback. There is a reason why nobody wanted to sign Fitzpatrick in the offseason; a reason why the Jets were bidding against themselves. Fitzpatrick is a mediocre quarterback. He now leads the league in interceptions thrown by a quarterback with seven. He has once again shown poor decision making in big spots, something that was a huge issue in Week 17 last January.
Yes, the options behind Fitzpatrick aren't any better. But, there was no reason after -- even three interceptions -- for Fitzpatrick to stay in this game. Worse, if this keeps up there will be no reason to keep playing him. The Jets quarterback issues just got a whole lot uglier.
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