Of the roughly 25,000 men who have ever suited up for an NFL game, for many reasons, few are more fascinating than one Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick. Born and raised in Arizona, Fitzpatrick studied economics at Harvard and also quarterbacked the school's Ivy League football team. In the 2004 season, he led the Crimson to a 10-0 record and and Ivy League championship. He scored 48 on the Wonderlic Personnel Test and that score is the highest ever recorded for an NFL quarterback. By comparison, current Bills quarterback Josh Allen scored a 37.
Fitzpatrick was drafted in the 7th round of the 2005 NFL draft as the 250th overall pick by the St. Louis Rams. Including his current team, the Miami Dolphins, he has played for eight NFL teams over his 15 year career. This included four seasons with the Buffalo Bills - from 2009 through 2012 - where he started all 16 regular season games in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Known in good times as "Fitzmagic" and in bad times as "Fitztragic", his play has swung wildly between brilliant and horrific - from season to season, game to game and within games, from series to series. Known as a risk-taking gunslinger of a quarterback, over his career he has been a paradox - often showing flashes of brilliance in an individual game only to eventually throw a critical interception at the most inopportune time to seal a loss. He is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw four touchdown passes in a single game with five different teams (including the Bills). He has never played in an NFL playoff game as he seems to bounce around the league's bottom feeders as a capable back-up who always seems to have a notable impact on the fortunes of whatever team he finds himself on - usually a positive impact in the short term and negative one later on.
It was clear to me that Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins were motivated and well prepared going into yesterday's game in Orchard Park. For a team widely expected to complete the 2019 season without a win, the Dolphins played hard and at times played well. Fitzpatrick looked solid in the first half before fizzling out later in the game. For a 17 point underdog widely believed to be in "tank" mode this season, the Dolphins looked like a team which was long on effort and short on talent. This is a testament to the Dolphins coaching staff and probably to Fitzpatrick himself whose play yesterday replicated a common pattern he has shown over 15 years - strong play early on with his team well-positioned to pull off the biggest upset of the NFL season so far, then a crucial interception as his team was on the verge of another score. He even engineered a late touchdown, taking the ball to the endzone himself, to bring the Dolphins to within three points and a chance at recovering an onside kick.
Looking at the score this morning, a casual NFL fan might think that the Bills had built a comfortable lead before softening and allowing the Dolphins to rack up some garbage time points and earn a back-door cover. But the game was uncomfortably close for Bills fans until Micah Hyde sealed the win by returning an onside kick for a touchdown to restore a ten point margin. Good teams win close games and bad teams lose them.
The Bills play a much better Philadelphia Eagles team next week in the second of three consecutive home games in Orchard Park. The Eagles lost badly last night in Dallas and will present the Bills with the their second-biggest challenge of the season so far.
Canadians will elect a new government today in our 43rd general election. I'm glad that the campaign is over as it seemed to be far longer than needed with few interesting or relevant developments along the way. I predict the following: The Conservatives will not fair quite as well as expected and the Liberals will win the most seats but will fall short of the 170 needed for a majority. The NDP will win enough seats to hold the balance of power in a minority parliament and they will demand from the Liberals in exchange for their support, among other things, that the Trans-Mountain pipeline project be scrapped. How the Liberals decide to deal with this demand will be a large question - one with critical national unity and environmental implications.
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