If not for Geno Smith getting slugged in the jaw, Ryan Fitzpatrick would have been holding a clipboard on the Jets' sideline to start the regular season. But when fist met face in the locker room that day, the Harvard graduate found himself a starting NFL quarterback once again.
That diploma, and the training that comes with it, he feels, could be is his ace in the hole to keep the job.
"Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about that," Fitzpatrick said, via the Daily News. "So much of the game for the quarterback is the mental side of it. Everybody always talks about my arm and how horrible it is. I promise, you can put on some tape [and see] that I can make all the throws that you wants me to make or that I need to make.
"I see myself continuing to get better rather than declining."
The speculations that follow every player in the NFL has scarcely been approving of him, but he takes heart in his track record of proving people wrong and starting over again. His age is only one of the hurdles he's repeatedly jumped.
"That's been the perception every year," the 33-year-old said. "Somehow I keep sticking around and finding new jobs. So I don't really listen to the perception. I hear it, for sure. I just kind of shrug my shoulders and make sure that I focus on what I can control and focus on getting myself better."
Jets head coach Todd Bowles hinted during training camp that Fitzpatrick could, in theory, take the job from Geno Smith even after he returns from his 6-to-10 week vacation afforded him buy his broken jaw. He sees no reason to take out one quarterback who is performing well to give the job back to another quarterback who has yet to.
In other words, you can lose your job to injury in the NFL.
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