The Miami Dolphins signed Ryan Fitzpatrick this past March and the fanbase let out a collective groan. The man known as “Fitzmagic” was known for his thrilling highs and devastating lows — but someone far too erratic to commandeer an offense with any kind of regularity. That was the book on Fitzpatrick, a long-time journeyman and career backup who hasn’t seemed to find the handle on playing with balance.
Until the year 2019, that is. Fitzpatrick’s 15th NFL season is coming to a close next Sunday in Foxboro — one last chance to shock the world and upend the Patriots is all that stands between Fitzpatrick and the end of the best season of his NFL career.
No, Fitzpatrick won’t set career marks in passing yardage or touchdowns — those marks came in 2015 with the New York Jets. That season saw Fitzpatrick start all 16 games and pass for 3,905 yards and 31 touchdowns en route to a 10-6 record. But that Jets team offered Fitzpatrick two 1,000 yard receivers in Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker plus a 1,000 yard rusher in Chris Ivory.
Fitzpatrick wasn’t afforded the chance to start 16 games this season in Miami but consider his stats over Miami’s last 10 games, ever since Fitzpatrick was reinserted into the starting lineup. Over that time, Fitzpatrick has posted the following stat line.
244 completions on 381 attempts (64% completion) for 2,774 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, 9 interceptions plus 209 rushing yards, 3 rushing touchdowns with 32 sacks taken and 2 fumbles lost
Extrapolating these numbers over a full 16 game sample size would not just be the greatest performance of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s career but it would be one of the best passing performances in the history of the Miami Dolphins. Fitzpatrick, since being renamed the starter in October, has put up numbers, on this Dolphins team with this offensive line that would project to the following over the course of 16 games:
64% completion, 4,438 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, 14 interceptions plus 334 rushing yards, 5 rushing touchdowns with 51 sacks taken and 3 fumbles lost
To consider that’s Fitzpatrick’s pace comes as the quarterback of a Dolphins offense that will need at least three new starters on the offensive line — but ideally four — and has zero running game at his disposal is an incredible display. And Fitzpatrick hasn’t just feasted on the Cincinnati Bengals of the world either. He hung 365 passing yards on the Eagles and 323 yards on the Buffalo Bills.
Fitzpatrick needs 337 yards of total offense against the Patriots next Sunday to surpass Chad Pennington’s total yardage mark back in 2008 — 3,774 passing and rushing yards combined. And Pennington, of course, did that over 16 games during that magical 11-5 season. If Fitzpatrick gets there, it would leave just Dan Marino (10 seasons) and Ryan Tannehill (3 seasons) with more combined total yardage in Miami Dolphins history.
Considering Fitzpatrick was considered by many to serve 2019 as a sacrificial lamb in the name of a rebuild, that’s not too bad. Not too bad at all.
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