Ryan Fitzpatrick’s outstanding performance against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5 was a huge catalyst for the Dolphins securing their second win of the 2020 season. What’s more? Fitzpatrick’s play effectively threw the chatter of Miami inserting Tua Tagovailoa on ice for yet another week — if not longer. And for every time Fitzpatrick plays like this, it will be rightfully so. He was terrific against the 49ers and could seemingly do no wrong one week after a frustrating performance against the Seattle Seahawks.
So what did Fitzpatrick do differently? Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield put Fitzpatrick’s performance under the microscope to see how and why his play was able to explode the way that it did in Week 5. Was it better scheme? Better execution? Better performances from his receivers? As Schofield details below, there were a lot of variables at play that helped the Dolphins’ prosper in Week 5.
“Part of the reason Fitzpatrick had such a huge afternoon is trust. Whenever he saw single coverage opportunities on the outside, he trusted his receivers to make plays in the vertical passing game. We’ll see that in this video breakdown, as well as him attacking the middle of the field and throwing with anticipation on the corner route.” – Mark Schofield, Touchdown Wire
Fitzmagic!
*Attacking single coverage in the vertical game
*Splitting the safeties
*Anticipation on the 7 route
*Bonus DeVante Parker love pic.twitter.com/AXo6OkuRF2— Mark Schofield (@MarkSchofield) October 13, 2020
The challenge, as it has always been for Fitzpatrick, will be to replicate this kind of performance on a weekly basis. We shouldn’t expect Fitzpatrick to be able to do so — if he were able to bottle it up and play with consistency, he wouldn’t be the career journeyman quarterback that he’s become. But at the very least, Miami can hope to get a similar performance in Week 6 against the lowly New York Jets. And if he indeed does play that well against New York, he’ll have bought himself some leash for heart of the schedule from those who are currently pining to see him take a seat behind Miami’s No. 5 overall pick.