Humphries Explains A Fitzpatrick Difference
September 7th, 2018
Interesting take on Fitz
One thing driving Joe nuts is the narrative that Ryan Fitzpatrick is the backup quarterback filling on Sunday.
No, through the 2018 training camp and preseason, months of prep for opening day, Fitzpatrick has been the clear starting QB. He’s been the guy from Day 1.
There’s a big difference there — for Fitz and the rest of the team. He’s not a backup in any form this week.
This isn’t Joe writing about a quarterback controversy. Jameis Winston will take over later this month or in early October. But it should be clear that the Bucs and Fitzpatrick are completely ready for his starting role, something he’s done 119 times in the NFL.
With that in mind, Fitzpatrick does bring an important element to the offense, per Adam Humphries, one it appears Jameis does not in the same way.
“I think Fitz just, [his best trait] is veteran poise,” Humphries said when asked to name Fitzpatrick’s best trait. “He’s not afraid if he sees a look where we might have an advantage in a certain look, he’s not afraid to check it one way, check it another way, or change a route. You know, that’s something we don’t normally get, especially on the road. It’s hard to see those looks when crowd noise is up and defense is showing you different things. So he’s a veteran, shows a lot of poise, not afraid to check a call or change something.”
When asked how Fitzpatrick settles the team on the road, Humphries added, “Consistent in his attitude. He’s not up and down. Very consistent in the huddle, kind of calms us down; we’re going to get the same guy every time. So he’s very good with that. It helps sometimes on road games in a tough environment.”
Joe is not saying Humphries is knocking Jameis here. But Fitzpatrick and Jameis certainly have different styles.
Perhaps Fitzpatrick’s leadership approach and poise is extremely well suited for the cauldron that will be the wild opening-day scene at the Superdome. Joe already has written many times that Jameis should not be considered a good leader for a variety of obvious reasons.
Regardless, there’s every reason to believe Fitzpatrick will put in a good showing Sunday. He’s healthy, knows the offense thoroughly, and he’s 21-21 as a starter through the past four seasons with a winning career record (3-2) on opening days.
September 7th, 2018 at 9:03 am
That said, GO MIGHTY BUCS AND BRING BACK A W FROM THE BIG EASY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 7th, 2018 at 9:20 am
Hump hit the single word that best describes JW’s biggest flaw both on and off he field. He has NEVER exhibited POISE. He HAS shown competitive fire and athleticism but poise…nah.
Now again I’m optimistic that the three game suspension and all the pre season PR from the “incident” forced him to look at himself and reevaluate. He seemed far more poised in the pre season than I’ve ever seen him before. If that carries over into the season…and I don’t see why it won’t…he’s going to be golden.
September 7th, 2018 at 9:23 am
#FREETHEAMISHRIFLE
September 7th, 2018 at 9:28 am
10-6
September 7th, 2018 at 9:32 am
Great post St.Pete. Exactly right.
September 7th, 2018 at 9:36 am
JBF Pickem Leage! Everyone is welcome
http://fantasy.espn.com/nfl-pigskin-pickem/2018/en/group?ex_cid=pigskin2016_email&groupID=99276
September 7th, 2018 at 9:37 am
1-DASH-0!
September 7th, 2018 at 9:38 am
My take is it sounds like Winston is afraid to hit check downs or change the plays up… Which is extremely interesting to me… It would explain why his turnovers remain high. Rather then checking out of a play in obvious situations he keeps what was called and will typically turn the ball over.
Either way, he’s young and he’s my QB until the upper management say otherwise. I am looking forward to the season and hopeful for improvements across the board.
September 7th, 2018 at 9:39 am
@ SPBF. It wasn’t an ‘incident’ it was a ‘hassle’
September 7th, 2018 at 9:43 am
SB
Oops. I stand corrected. 🙂
September 7th, 2018 at 9:49 am
FEAR THE BEARD!!!!
September 7th, 2018 at 9:53 am
Joe why do you keep blocking the link to the JBF Pickem league?
It’s harmless and it builds comaraderie
September 7th, 2018 at 9:56 am
Please make it outta that cesspool that is New Orleans with a win. Every player and staff will need a tetanus shot after leaving that place.
September 7th, 2018 at 10:02 am
Fitz will go 0-3 and put bucs in the hole week 4 by 2 TDs until his worthless arse is yanked… fitz has sucked for over a decade just like bucs. Neither team or the bum are going to magically get it this year
4-12
September 7th, 2018 at 10:08 am
Fitzpatrick is not as physically gifted as Jameis but he does posses great knowledge of the game. Hopefully he holds up well through the first 3 games. I see a lot of quick slants and outs rather than a vertical games we will later see with Jameis.
September 7th, 2018 at 10:09 am
Jameis Winston don’t believe in managing the game. He has that baseball mentality, swing for the fence, get that home run. He don’t take what the defense give him
September 7th, 2018 at 10:09 am
Another Fitz leadership plus: he doesn’t eat W’s…
September 7th, 2018 at 10:40 am
sounds like check for the win.
September 7th, 2018 at 10:58 am
you people hate jameis so much you are trying to turn fitz’s journeyman BUM resume into a Joe Montana…
September 7th, 2018 at 12:03 pm
Love Humphries’ take regarding what Fitz brings to the table. Words like Fitz “shows a lot of poise” and is “consistent in his attitude” and that he “kind of calms us down” says a whole bunch about Fitz’s LEADERSHIP to me. If Fitz can get this group of talented offensive guys playing as a TEAM, and if several of the defensive leaders can do the same thing on that side of the ball, then the Bucs will have a chance against New Orleans. FIELD LEADERSHIP is critical.
And StPete, I agree with ya that Jameis has “seemed far more poised in the pre season than I’ve ever seen him before.” I tend to think that IF the Bucs can get off to a good start in the first 3 or 4 games before Jameis comes back (WHEN he gets the starting QB nod is the coach’s call, not ours), then Jameis and the TEAM will be a LOT better off. That’d mean IMO that the Bucs had finally learned how to play COMPLIMENTARY FOOTBALL for one thing, and that what we need most is for Jameis to play within the TEAM concept & not try to do it all himself. IF we do well early-on, it’ll be because Fitz did exactly that, and it’ll rub off onto Jameis I’m convinced.
Very tough schedule to be sure, but I’m still ‘cautiously optimistic’ that we’ll go 10-6 this year, and maybe (?) make the playoffs. Injuries will certainly play a part (as they always seem to), and so will the quality of our opponents’ play, BUT … there’s something different about this year’s TEAM. I’m personally expecting to see some good old-fashioned smash-mouth football in New Orleans this Sunday. AND expecting to see the Bucs come away with a WIN.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:05 pm
@reality: you get troll/coward of the year award. You jump all over people if they have anything to say negative about JW. Even calling them not real fans….then you do the same thing to Fitzpatrick!!! You might just be Bi-Polar or even worse, one of JWs groupies. And to think you get him for 3 more weeks all to your self…looks like you with be the tight end catching his balls while serving his reduced suspension.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:12 pm
i have never said anything negative about fitz just his actual on field accomplishments which are horrendous at best…. Jameis is the most important buc of all time. Learn It, Live It and LOVE IT!!!!
September 7th, 2018 at 12:49 pm
Forget eating a W.
I want to suck on that W all throughout the next week!!!
Cmon, Bucs. You got this!
…. Lol. In fantasy, I have Peyton Barber as my RB2, Godwin as my flex, and OJ at TE
September 7th, 2018 at 1:42 pm
Reality…if you think that Jaboo is the most important Buc of all time then you sure don’t know or understand Bucs history. It is up for debate who it would be…but Jaboo is not on the list.
My top 3 list would be
Hardy Nickerson
Lee Roy Selmon
Warren Sapp
September 7th, 2018 at 1:56 pm
reality ..are you related to Winston or just a really deep man crush?
September 7th, 2018 at 2:22 pm
Parsing players words again…talk….talk….talk
September 7th, 2018 at 2:30 pm
Reality should change his name to Immorality
September 7th, 2018 at 2:31 pm
Both QBs are backups on any decent team. Real talk.
September 7th, 2018 at 3:08 pm
Joe,
Can you please explain to me why you haven’t once stated how abysmal Fitz has been in his career. You write an article hyping his veteran poise and even point out his 119 career starts…
Why aren’t you mentioning that he has the worst winning percentage in the entire NFL of any QB who has started more than 75 games?
This article hypes his consistency but doesn’t point out that he led the league in interceptions as recently as 2011 and was leading the NFL in interceptions two years ago before being benched.
Was he poised and consistent in the only game he’s ever played with true playoff implications where he completely melted down?
He’s never made the playoffs
4 coaches have been fired in the year after Fitz was the week 1 starter.
This dude threw SIX INTERCEPTIONS IN A SINGLE GAME IN 2016!!! SIX!!! IN ONE GAME!!!
He threw THREE INTERCEPTIONS IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES of a game that would have sent his team to the playoffs in 2015!!
Why is none of this ever mentioned?
I’m not trying to hate on you, Joe. I’m completely baffled by this Buc regime that is completely ignoring history, 14 years worth, with all of their jobs on the line. It’s virtually unprecedented. They knew Jameis was getting suspended and had ample time to bring in real competition for the week 1 job. They’ve ignored history. We know what happens to those that do.
September 7th, 2018 at 3:22 pm
If Barber has a good game, the defense doesn’t give up scores everytime the offense doesn’t, if ST doesn’t give up a score or short fields, if Koetter doesn’t keep calling 7 step dropped for a qb who can barely throw it 40 yards, and if the offense scores 34 points then we have a slim chance off winning. Thats a lotta ifs and there’s even more to list just didn’t feel like it.
September 7th, 2018 at 6:58 pm
So…. Humphries is asked to name Fitz’s best trait, so he comes up with one. So we jump to the conclusion that this obviously means Winston lacks poise, because it is obviously impossible for both of them to have poise.
If the question was, What does Fitz bring that Winston doesn’t? sure, make the argument.. If Hump says “Fitz has the most poise in the QB room” again ok.
September 7th, 2018 at 7:44 pm
@tnew
I do not know about others but I’ve felt that JW lacked poise dating back to his college days. It’s why he comes out with eyes like saucers and amped to the max. It’s why he hasn’t been so hot off the field either. He has simply never demonstrated poise…until this preseason.
“So we jump to the conclusion that this obviously means Winston lacks poise, because it is obviously impossible for both of them to have poise.”
You’ve made a classic mistake…coincidence is not the same as causation!!
The fact that Hump coincidentally made an observation that coincides with our view of JW’s entire career is not the cause of that observation!