Omar Kelly: Ryan Fitzpatrick serves as a steady hand for Dolphins' offense
After 16 seasons in the NFL it’s the small things that bring Ryan Fitzpatrick joy, and keep him excited about playing when he actually gets those opportunities.
It’s the jokes told in the huddle to keep things light.
The look on his teammates faces when they see him bowl over a defender at the end of a scramble, or when his teammates score a touchdown on a pass he threw them.
And it is the surprise of hearing a play call come into his earpiece that gives him an opportunity to prove there’s still plenty of game left in his 38-year-old body.
That happened late in the fourth quarter of Miami’s 20-3 win over the New York Jets Sunday when offensive coordinator Chan Gailey called for Fitzpatrick to run an option scramble to the right on third-and-4, which gained 12 yards and helped Miami close out their seventh win of the season by extinguishing the game’s final 6:20 in one run-heavy possession.
“I think that one might have been in the game plan for Tua (Tagovailoa), not me, I don’t know,” Fitzpatrick said with a laugh, referring to the young and spry quarterback Miami used the fifth pick to select in the 2020 NFL draft.
Tagovailoa replaced Fitzpatrick as Miami’s starter five games ago, but suffered a thumb injury to his throwing hand last Wednesday. The Dolphins were committed to seeing how the thumb healed, but ultimately replaced the rookie with Fitzpatrick as the team’s starter on Sunday.
But that didn’t mean the game plan was changing.
“Maybe 10 years ago, I score on that thing,” Fitzpatrick said about the option run. “But I was glad to get the first down.”
During his seventh start of the season, the grizzled veteran did exactly what he’s become accustomed to doing in his two seasons with the Dolphins.
Fitzpatrick provided Miami (7-4) with an offensive spark.
He spread the ball around to 10 different receivers, routinely finding the open man and throwing touch passes that were often thrown to them in spots only they could bring it down.
That explains the two-man game Fitzpatrick played with DeVante Parker most of the contest, which led to Parker having eight receptions for a season-high 119 receiving yards.
“They played a lot of man coverage and DeVante is going to be a big target when that happens,” said Fitzpatrick, who allowed Parker to feast on 50-50 balls courtesy of back-shoulder throws.
He finished the game completing 24-of-39 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns (97.9 passer rating). That type of clean performance will give the Dolphins a chance to win every game.
It is Fitzpatrick’s poise in the pocket, and his ability to read defenses quickly that sets him apart from Tagovailoa at the moment.
“He knows what’s going to happen before it happens,” tight end Mike Gesicki said of Fitzpatrick, “Like today on my touchdown, he said, ‘Hey, it’s coming to you regardless,’ so he knows what’s going to happen before it happens and he’s going to take chances.”
But the Dolphins intend on returning the team to Tagovailoa when his thumb heals enough for him to throw accurate passes with velocity. This is Tagovailoa’s franchise for the next decade if he performs as expected and stays healthy, and this season is an investment into that.
“If he’s healthy, he’s the guy. I don’t know how many different ways we have to continue to say that. You keep asking, I’ll keep answering the same way,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said with an emphatic tone after Sunday’s win. “We’ll take it day-to-day. He’s a tough kid. He wants to be out there. Thankfully, we have other guys who stepped up.”
That’s Fitzpatrick, and if he plays his cards right his steadying hand could lead to him playing a 17th season, possibly remaining with the Dolphins as a backup or going to another team that will give him a chance to compete for the starting job.
While this season has been painful for Fitzpatrick because of his unexpected benching in October, he’s come to terms with his role as Tagovailoa’s mentor and the sacrifices that are needed to make it through 2020.
“It has been such a strange season and really, when you throw COVID in there, that’s probably the most difficult. Not being able to see my family as much as (I’d like to) see them. Not being able to bring the kids in the locker room after the games,” Fitzpatrick said. “There’s a lot of stuff that I take a tremendous amount of pride in, and so much joy in that I haven’t been able to do this year. So that’s made it really difficult for me.
“Everybody’s had sacrifices and things they’ve had to do in order to get this season played and these games played, but this season for me has been very difficult for that reason.”
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