TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ quarterback situation remains a great mystery this week, but if coach Dirk Koetter’s decision was based on numbers alone, it would be hard to deny Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s case to start.
That is, unless he begins to falter. There is some truth to Fitzpatrick’s remarks about his career being full of “high-highs and low-lows.”
Here’s a look at both, no matter if he’s starting this week at Chicago (1 p.m. ET, Fox) or not.
Best of the best
Fitzpatrick has thrown for 1,230 passing yards and 11 touchdowns, completing 70.3 percent of his passes through three games. Those numbers are all better than Kurt Warner’s 1999 season when he took over as the Rams’ starting quarterback when Trent Green suffered a knee injury. Warner threw for 894 yards and nine touchdowns, with two interceptions and completed 68.9 percent of his passes. He went on to win MVP and Super Bowl MVP honors.
Fitzpatrick leads the NFL in passing yards through three weeks after he started just three games in 2017.
“I love the game of football. I have a lot of pride, but I’m also a team guy. Whatever Dirk says, whatever he decides to do, I respect that because I respect him,” Fitzpatrick said of the decision on whether he’ll start on Sunday.
There have only been five players who have led the NFL in passing yards through the first three weeks of a season one year after starting three or fewer games since the 1970 merger, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Those five other players are Fitzpatrick, Drew Bledsoe in 2002, Jeff George in 1997, Doug Williams in 1988 and Joe Namath in 1972. Fitzpatrick’s 1,230 passing yards are more than all of them.
Big dropoff
Fitzpatrick has been off to hot starts before, and then fizzled. In 2011 with the Buffalo Bills, the team started 3-0 and Fitzpatrick finished Week 3 with the second-best total quarterback rating behind Drew Brees.
He signed a six-year contract extension and went 2-8 in the final 10 weeks of the season, tied with Josh Freeman for the most losses in that span. His 17 interceptions were also the most in the NFL in that span.
Fitzpatrick has also been streaky, too. In Weeks 12-16 of the 2015 season, Fitzpatrick led the New York Jets to five straight wins, throwing 13 touchdowns and just one interception during that span. In Week 17 against his old Bills team, he threw two touchdowns and was picked off three times in the final three drives.
The Jets lost 22-17 and were ultimately knocked out of the playoffs.