New York Jets Eric Decker Does Not Believe It Is Time For Bryce Petty
New York Jets injured wide receiver Eric Decker does not believe it is time to turn to Bryce Petty at quarterback.
The New York Jets have a 3-6 record and staring down an important decision. With the postseason being a long shot, when do they start evaluating players for next season? That decision was almost made for them this past Sunday.
In a loss to the Miami Dolphins, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick injured his knee. He missed only a handful of plays but underwent an MRI Monday. The MRI came back as a sprained MCL, which put some doubt into whether he would play this week.
ESPN’s Ed Werder reported that Fitzpatrick was expected to start. That looks to be true as Fitzpatrick was on the field today with his teammates for practice. That will push the Jets quarterback conundrum back another week as head coach Todd Bowles already said that Fitzpatrick is the starter as long as he is healthy.
Had Fitzpatrick been unable to go the Jets would have turned to backup Bryce Petty. With Geno Smith out for the season with an ACL injury, Petty is the next man up. There are plenty of fans clamoring for Petty to take over but the sentiment doesn’t seem to be shared by the players.
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Injured wide receiver Eric Decker is one of the players that does not believe it is time for Petty to get under center yet. He also believes that he is not the only one that feels that way on the team. Here is what he had to say when talking to Alan Hahn and Rick DiPietro on Hahn and Humpty this week on ESPN Radio.
"“I don’t think that’s the right decision,” he said. “That’s why Coach is keeping Ryan (Fitzpatrick) in there and I would think a lot of guys feel the same way as well. … You can’t just throw the towel in and say, ‘OK, all right, let’s get ready for next year.’ As a competitor, that’s not how you think, that’s not how you operate. Going to work each day with that kind of mentality, why even go to work?”"
Decker brings up some good points. There are a lot of veterans on the Jets and just throwing in the towel with a young quarterback could rub some people the wrong way. There are a number of players out there playing for their next contract so having someone so inexperienced leading them into games could hurt their stock in free agency.
The Jets, while extreme longshots for the postseason, are still mathematically alive. As long as there is a sliver of hope at the postseason you can expect Fitzpatrick to be under center. It may take another injury for him to lose the starting job, but being eliminated from the postseason would definitely make the coaching staff consider a change at the position.
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The Jets need to eventually see what they have in Petty and even Christian Hackenberg. Fitzpatrick is not the long-term answer at quarterback so they need to see what the youngsters can bring to the table. The end of the regular season could give the Jets that chance to evaluate them.