lately there's been a big ta-do over ryan fitzpatrick, the 2011 draft, the future of the bills in general and the quarterback position in particular....
simply put, there are a number of positions coming over the airwaves and the internet, especially on wgr...whatever...i don't have a show, nor do i have the inclination call in and explain a position in a matter of a half-a-minute or less only to have the host(s) either cut you off, distort your opinion in a desultory way or subtly change their position for their own uses...
paul hamilton has been steadfast concerning ryan fitzpatrick as the future qb of the buffalo bills stating that, although he does overcome his lack of innate talent with superior intellect, he has, does, and probably always will end up throwning a remarkably poor ball or two that ends up thwarting a drive and/or the outcome...and it seems as if mr. hamilton will never believe that fitzpatrick is the one to take them to the promised land...
the morning crew, with howard simon and jeremy white, is still wading through the unbelievability of fitzpatrick's performance and are starting to think that maybe fitz could be "the guy"...ever so cautiously, though...
the afternoon crew is another story...bulldog was adamant about not "getting married" to an alcohol-biased, last-call hook-up in fitzpatrick...and schoppsie has said that he's in favor of a franchise quarterback to win them the super bowl...or, as of the last few days, to turn them into a winner whichever is best suited to deride a caller with a strong point of view that contradicts his...
one thing that they all agree upon is that were andrew luck available, and if the bills did have the #1 overall pick, then luck it is...but the bills have been performing extremely well the last five weeks and could easily be 4-6 or even 5-5 having lost three games in ot by three points...and yes, mr. hamilton, right now fitz doesn't seem to have it in the clutch...yet...
since the whole scenario of having the #1 overall pick is pretty much gone, the "debate" has turned to whether or not ryan fitzpatrick is a franchise quarterback and whether or not the bills should draft the best quarterback available in the first round...
exactly what will a franchise quarterback bring to an nfl team?...
peyton manning and eli manning are two #1-overall franchise quarterbacks...they each have one superbowl ring...yet, so does kurt warner, an undrafted free agent, and mvp of "the greatest show on turf"...although #1-overall franchise quarterback john elway finally won the super bowl and ended up with two superbowl rings, two quarterbacks, joe montana and tom brady, who are considered two of the best to ever play the position, were picked in the 3rd and 6th rounds, respectively and have more superbowl wins--montana, four and brady, three--than elway...and in the case of brady, he replaced "franchise quarterback" drew bledsoe to lead the pats to glory...as for bledsoe?...he got a parade in buffalo as the "savior" of the team and failed to move the them anywhere outside of mediocrity...
since terry bradshaw's last ring in 1980, a myriad of first-round picks have managed to lead a team to a superbowl victory including jim plunkett who was a failure until his thirteenth year in the league, doug williams who struggled until landing with joe gibbs and the washington redskins, jim mcmahon who rode what many consider the greatest defense of all time to the championship...likewise ny giant phil simms had one of the greatest defenses to work with, but he also had one of the greatest qb ratings in superbowl history and previous first-round bust, trent dilfer, was a bust until he uncharacteristically played relatively mistake-free football with a great baltimore ravens defense....
in addition to montana and brady, the last 30 years are sprinkled with superbowl winning qb's who were picked in the 2nd round or lower--joe theismann (washington,) brett favre (green bay,) brad johnson (tampa bay,) and drew brees (new orleans) among them with two others as a part of buffalo bills superbowl history...
during the buffalo bills heydey, when "franchise quarterback" jim kelly preyed upon opposing defenses in every game except the superbowls, it's interesting to note that he was defeated by 3rd-round pick jeff hostetler and the ny giants in the bills first superbowl appearance...then "machine-gun" kelly was outdone by 6th-round pick mark rypien and the washington redskins the following year...these were the two superbowls that the bills had a legitimate shot at winning...
consecutive superbowl appearances number three and four were against former #1-overall franchise quarterback troy aikman and a dominant dallas cowboys team...aikman has three superbowl rings....
so what does it all mean concerning a team and a "franchise quarterback?"...it means that the #1-overall franchise quarterback does give you a good opportunity for the lombardi trophy, but there's no guarantee...and it's been proven, especially over the past 30 years that you don't need a first-round qb-pick to win it all...
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| is 7th-round draft pick ryan fitzpatrick what the bills need at quarterback? |
you need something that's been mentioned only once (two days ago) in the past couple of weeks from our media friends, by howard simon--a confident and trust-worthy relationship between the quarterback and the offensive coordinator and/or head coach...
on october 25th i sent bulldog a letter saying that i saw something amazing in the bills/ravens game...the much-maligned ryan fitzpatrick and the buffalo bills were shredding a ravens defense that was one of the best in the nfl...they were doing it with precise execution of the plays and although mistakes were made (see fitzpatrick's gross interception as it slipped out of his hands)...
what i was witnessing was a confidence in fitzpatrick by head coach chan gailey to run the offense with the plays being called...in addition, gailey had confidence in fitzpatrick's football-sense to allow him to change/alter the play as he saw fit...from fitzpatrick's standpoint, he had confidence in the plays being called by his coach and ran them, with some alterations here and there...this mutual confidence, this trust-factor, spilled over to the rest of the offense--the offensive line blocked their assignments, the tight end and backs did what was asked of them and the receivers ran their routes, as they were designed, with precision...in the end you had an impressive display of offense that, although falling short against the ravens, in overtime, eventually culminated with a record-setting comeback win five weeks later vs. the cincinnati bengals this past sunday...
i believe what we're witnessing is a symbiotic relationship between quarterback and coach/offensive coordinator, a trust-factor in which the quarterback is an extension of the play-caller on the sideline...the kind of relationship that was preceded by montana/bill walsh, mcmahon/mike ditka, hostetler/bill parcells, aikman/jimmy johnson, brady/bill belichick, warner/mike martz, peyton manning/tony dungy, among many others...
am i jumping the gun a bit putting fitzpatrick/gailey in the same league as the aforementioned?...yup, and we'll not really know how it'll all play out until next season when they have something to play for and the pressure is turned up...lesser qb's have gotten the job done so it's not outside the realm of possibility...
all i know is, as of right now, ryan fitzpatrick and chan gailey have something special going on with mutual confidence spilling over to the rest of the offense...and what we have is a bills team that might be the most fun-to-watch 2-8 team that the league has ever seen...
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