The Redskins might want to take a few notes during Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills. Both franchises haven't been relevant since the nineties, but it's small-market Buffalo who might finally be back on the winning track thanks to Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Bills are obviously convinced Fitzpatrick is a franchise quarterback as the one-time journeyman signed a six-year, $59 million deal to stay in Buffalo and help it revert to the glory days of the 90’s.
For the Redskins it’s a lesson that a savior can come from an unlikely source. No one predicted Fitzpatrick would take the reins in Buffalo in 2009 and secure himself a multi-million dollar extension by 2011. Yet the Harvard graduate has surpassed all expectations after living through five seasons of NFL anonymity.
Fitzpatrick has completed a staggering 66.3 percent of his passes this season and has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of two-to-one. He’s been sacked just six times and has given a long-suffering fan base reason to believe again.
“We’ve all had to work so hard to be given this opportunity,” he said in a conference call with reporters. “I think these guys now understand that being undrafted, being a seventh-round pick, being the lowest guy on the totem pole for so long, these opportunities don’t come by every day.”
In Washington, fans are hoping for a similar turnaround, but for that to happen they’ll need their own Fitzpatrick. John Beck will do his best impersonation on Sunday, but the real key lies in stopping Buffalo's signal-caller.
Fitzpatrick isn’t Michael Vick or Cam Newton, but that doesn’t make life any easier for a Redskins defense struggling to maintain the pace they set out of the gate.
Washington's defense hasn’t maintained the level of play that made it a top five unit early in the season. They gave up 24 second half points to Newton and the Panthers on Sunday and 192 rushing yards to the Eagles two weeks ago.
“I have to do a better job of making sure that we’re better prepared during the week because our defense is too physical and too good,” Mike Shanahan said. “I have to make sure that I put them in situations more times than not to make sure that they feel very comfortable in every look that they see.”
A big reason the Redskins had issues defensively was the mobility of Newton and Vick. Washington is still transitioning to a 3-4 defense and the added dimension of a scrambling quarterback put them at a disadvantage. Though Fitzpatrick isn’t statuesque in the pocket, he doesn’t pose the same match-up problems Newton or Vick do so Jim Haslett will be able to take a more straightforward approach.
But the Bills have playmakers. Running back Fred Jackson drew high praise from Haslett this week and Steve Johnson has shown big-play capabilities at receiver. And of course there’s also Fitzpatrick who’s made it all tick.
“Perseverance is a character trait that you wish a lot of people have,” said Bills head coach Chan Gailey. “There are a lot of people out in this world right now giving up because things don’t go their way and [Fitzpatrick] didn’t do that. We have a bunch of players on our football team that are like that. They just didn’t give up.”
Perhaps it’s a lesson the Redskins can learn from. Neither of these teams have been successful in over a decade, but this year the Bills are proving the culture can be changed. All it takes is a little hope and a few wins to start believing again.
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