They don’t call him “Fitzmagic” for nothing! Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick elevated a lowly Dolphins team to a 5-4 finish over the final 9 games of the 2019 season — a feat that should not be easily lost on Dolphins fans who endured two brutal months to start the year. Along the way, Fitzpatrick led the team in rushing, was one of the NFL’s most aggressive passers and willingly put the football up for his skill players to make plays on the football.
And time and time again, it worked.
By the end of the year, Fitzpatrick had arguably his greatest pro season to date — he did more with less and allowed the Dolphins to surge late in the year; with another near-miss against the Jets in December that would have given Miami a 6-3 finish if not for a questionable defensive pass interference to set up the game-winning field goal for New York.
By the end of the year, we asked whether or not it was Ryan Fitzpatrick who was the best quarterback in the AFC East this past year — and the evidence seemed to back that assertion.
Now, that suggestion has even further backing thanks to Pro Football Focus, who recently declared Fitzpatrick the Most Valuable Player in the AFC East last season while also revealing that Fitzpatrick led the AFC in PFF’s “Wins Above Replacement” metric.
2019 AFC East MVP: Ryan Fitzpatrick pic.twitter.com/JaPfdG1ved
— PFF (@PFF) May 27, 2020
“…Ryan Fitzpatrick was the most valuable player using PFF Wins Above Replacement in the AFC last year — 2 wins above replacement. That’s shocking.” – George Chahrouri, PFF
For Fitzpatrick to perform as well as he did under the conditions that he did is a testament to his veteran savvy and ability to understand much of his matchups before the snap. The Dolphins offensive line conceded pressures in the pass game at an alarming rate — so pre-snap mastery of the play was necessary in order to avoid devastating pressures. Fitzpatrick provided that and more; and so we must tip our cap for a job well done in 2019.
Now, the fun part — can he do it again in 2020?