Ryan Fitzpatrick a Harvard graduate has come from very humble beginnings as he was drafted in the seventh round of the 2005 by the St. Louis Rams and he is the quickest player to finish the Wonderlic test which is a pre-draft quiz in which he almost got a perfect score of 50 and got a score of 48 instead. His career started his career in the eleven game and came in the second quarter and the Rams were down 24-3 and throw for 310 yards and three TDs and the Rams won in overtime 33-27 but then fell apart and only started the next three games before being pulled and after another season on the bench he was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals and played every other game as Carson Palmer was injured. This stint in Cincinnati gave the Buffalo Bills the confidence to sign Fitzpatrick to a 3 year deal worth 7.4 million dollars and he helped the Bills beat the Jets 16 - 13 in overtime after starter Trent Edwards left with an injury and then he was named the starting quarterback heading week 11 and finished the season as the starter and finished with 1422 yards through the air with a 55.9 % completion and had 9 TD and 10 INT. In the 2010 season before week 3 he was named starter and Trent Edwards was released and Fitzpatrick throw for 3000 yards and throw 23 TD and 15 int and 8 of his 13 starts he completed over 60 % and was 3 and 9 but lost three games in overtime on a field goal and lost another game by 3 points so the team looked promising going into the 2011 season. So then in 2011 through 6 games the bills are 4 and 2 and have been in every game so far as they have lost their only two games so far by a field goal in the last 2 minutes of the game as the Bengals won on the last play of the game and the Giants only left 92 seconds on the clock when they kicked the game winning field goal which came off of an over throw by Fitzpatrick deep in Giants territory in a tied game. While Fitzpatrick has brought the team back to life in other games by coming up with lots of second half points to take care of deficits and has completed just short of 2/3 of his passes (66.3) and has only completed under 60% in the Cincinnati game this season and has passed for 1477 yards and 12 TDs to 6 INTs in the first 6 games.
So with all that said Ryan Fitzpatrick is about to sign a 6 year and 59 million dollar contract with 24 million guaranteed and this is for a guy who is being paid just over 3 million dollars this season and in his own words has said "I think we've got this thing headed in the right direction. So to be a part of that, and to be able to continue to be a part of that for years to come, I'm really excited about it."
So the job is not done yet for Fitzpatrick and the Bills who not seen the playoffs since the music city miracle on January 8, 2000 but at least Fitzpatrick is the first Bills quarterback to receive a contract extension since Doug Flutie in '99 and the Bills are hopeful that Fitzpatrick can get back to the playoffs.
Lets see how if this contract works out for both Fitzpatrick and the bills
Tom Mehegan
No comments:
Post a Comment