New York Jets: Ryan Fitzpatrick Believes He Should be Starting Quarterback

The New York Jets are in a tailspin after a good start to the season and there are now people looking for someone to blame.

As expected in football, much of the blame for the recent struggles of the Jets is being placed on the quarterback position. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been the starter since Geno Smith was punched in the face, and he has even been able to play through torn ligaments in his thumb which required surgery.

Also on Empire Writes Back: Who is the greatest QB in franchise history?

In the last two weeks, Fitzpatrick has struggled, as in the loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football, he totaled 193 passing yards, two touchdown passes, two interceptions, and a dreadful 44.1 completion percentage. It wasn’t much better for Fitzpatrick against his former team this past Sunday, as he totaled 216 passing yards, one passing touchdown, one rushing touchdown, and a 48.7 completion percentage.

There’s no denying that Fitzpatrick as struggled in recent weeks, but the Jets overall haven’t played well as a team. On offense, the Jets haven’t been able to run the football with any success, and their defense has fallen way short of expectations.

The Jets have had to ask way too much from Fitzpatrick and the passing offense, as he isn’t well-suited to throw the ball 40 times a game. Coming into the season if you were told that the Jets would struggle to run the ball and their defense would be mediocre, you would say that they would be a bad team once again.

More from Empire Writes Back

Fitzpatrick has had some very good moments this season, and recent struggles of the team shouldn’t be blamed on him completely.

After the loss to the Texans, a frustrated Todd Bowles left it open that Smith may be in the picture once again as the starting quarterback, but he was singing a much different tune on Monday.

“We’re fine with Ryan,” Bowles said to Dom Cosentino of NJ.com. “He’s the starting quarterback.”

Despite some criticism, Fitzpatrick believes that he should still be the starting quarterback of the Jets.

“Yeah, I do think I’m the right man for the job,” Fitzpatrick said to Cosentino. “I think, unfortunately, and fortunately, I’ve got a lot of experience in playing for teams that have been in this situation, where we’ve lost a few games, we’ve got to stay the course, we’ve got to right the ship, we’ve got to do all the stuff.