Ryan Fitzpatrick – October 24, 2019
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Thursday, October 24, 2019
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
(Do you have any good Monday Night Football memories?) – “Not many. No. I’ve played on Monday night a few times, but not many good memories.”
(A lot of your teammates have never played in a Monday night game. What kind of advice would you give them as far as the atmosphere and the stage and how they should approach it mentally?) – “It’s shifted a little bit from the last 10 or 15 years, I guess with the Thursday night games. Now I think Thursday night, all eyes are definitely on you – around the league – with your peers watching you. Monday is sort of like that. It used to definitely be like that where all eyes are on you, and I think Thursday has overtaken that a little bit in some ways. It’s a chance for you to go out there with everybody having the opportunity to watch you and to go play, so I think it’s cool. It’s fun to be on the national stage like that and to be showcased in a game for a night. Once you start playing, everything’s the same. It’s just a game, but it’s going to be a great atmosphere. It’s a fun place to play. Those fans are as rowdy as any when the Steelers are going and we’re looking forward to it.”
(How about growing up? Any Monday Night Football moments that kind of stick out?) – “Was the Brett Favre game Monday night? Like after his dad passed away?”
(Yeah.) – “Yeah, so to me, that’s the one that I think about. I remember watching that one feeling tingly the whole game. That’s the one that pops into my mind, I guess.”
(What are some of the ways in which you or any quarterback is best able to limit sacks? Because you’ve done it pretty well so far this year.) – “There’s a lot of different things. I think playing on time is a big thing in terms of knowing when to get the ball out and where the ball needs to go. I think our guys up front have done a really nice job. (They) just continue to work. I think you obviously vary in the protection schemes a little bit and then just knowing your opponent and their strengths and weaknesses and how you’re going to attack them every week. Every week it’s different. You come up with a different plan every week depending on what their strengths are, and I’ll tell you that the Steelers – people can say what they want about their record and everything else – but this is a very good defense. This is a top five – top 10, top five defense in the NFL. Just watching them on tape – when you put on the tape – the speed that they have at all positions, how physical they are up front. They’re very talented. It goes along with the history of the Steelers, and since 2007 when I was a Bengal and started playing them, they play a certain brand of football and this year is no different.”
(I’ve got a question about a quarterback’s relationship with his offensive linemen. We know that the quarterback and the center work closely together, but if a left tackle is changed or a right tackle, does that change things for you? Do you actually kind of have a relationship with those guys? Are you tied to them in that sense?) – “I think there’s always awareness of who’s in the huddle and just like we’re trying to attack and know a team’s strengths and weaknesses, I think we know what’s going on up front with our strengths and weaknesses. I think as a player, I know my strengths and weaknesses. You obviously try to accentuate the good and the positive. I think certain guys on our team have different skillsets. Once we start playing, there’s certain things you can’t think about maybe as a scheme throughout the week – things you try to do to put guys in good situations – but once you start playing, we’ve just got to go out there and play and react to it.”
(When C/G Evan Boehm was acquired, it was kind of like a roll-in week because all those transactions were being made; but two months now or a month now into your time with him, what are your thoughts on how he’s played and what was your first memory of meeting him?) – “He’s done a great job. Boehm and Chris Reed always get confused. (laughter) We were walking through the TSA screening the other day and they had the wrong guy. (laughter) He’s been really impressive, just coming in and (Evan Boehm) had some familiarity with ‘Guge’ (Offensive Line Coach Dave DeGuglielmo) in the past; but coming in, really he’s got an infectious attitude. He likes to talk a lot, maybe too much sometimes, (laughter) but the thing that I was most impressed with was when he played center last game, you never want a nervous center. You never want somebody – that’s the last thing I want to have to worry about when I’ve got a million other things on my mind and he did a great job. He stepped right in there, was confident the whole game with his calls, played really well, and so that was a huge, huge plus coming out of last game for us with him.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores said that the team is lacking in recognizing critical situations whether that’s in the red zone. How do you assess that and is that something that is just in a game or can you practice that in practice?) – “I think maybe more so than recognizing them, it’s just rising to the occasion maybe. The significance of those two plays that we had in Buffalo to go up a couple scores and to have the interception, for them to take it 98 (yards) and score. In the NFL, that’s the difference between good teams and bad teams. I think it’s good to point out those moments after they happen. I think we knew we needed to score there; but to point out those moments and realize what a big part that had in the game – the outcome of the game – it really shifted the momentum of the game; and just making sure that when those happen, we highlight them, we talk about them maybe in the huddle as they’re going on just to make sure everybody’s on alert.”
(How do you teach a team to play at a higher level in those critical moments?) – “I think a lot of it is just working together. A lot of is experience. So some of that, there’s going to be growing pains a little bit. You have to have guys that rise to the occasion. We’ll just continue to try to do that. A lot of that is through repetition in practice but then going out there and doing it in a game. We just have to continue to try to get better on game day with some of that stuff.”
(When you take a 14-9 lead against the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo, do you think that they’re surprised by a team that was supposedly winless and easy to beat?) – “You’d have to ask them if they were surprised or not. I think we’ve hit on it: we’re a different team than we were the first few weeks in terms of settling in and being more competitive. I think at this point, everybody that’s been in the NFL for a while, you understand that this is a competitive league and you’ve got to bring it every week. Sometimes – they were coming off a bye and whatever else, and sometimes some of that stuff plays into it. They stepped up and we didn’t at the end of the game in the fourth quarter there.”
(I was thinking about the N.Y. Jets QB Sam Darnold “seeing ghosts” thing. I’m wondering in your whole career, have you ever been mic’d and realized you said something and been like “Oh, I hope they don’t use that?”) – “I’ve been mic’d a few times but now when they ask me, I always say no. (laughter) I don’t like to be mic’d. I think a lot of times they have to pass it through. I’ve been on Hard Knocks before and there’s certainly been a few things in the meetings and elsewhere that I’ve said where I’ve looked up at the camera and … (laughter). So there’s some buried footage somewhere. (laughter) I think a lot of times they have to pass that through the proper channels. Whenever they ask me, I avoid it if I can.”
(Can you share any of those stories now?) – “No. (laughter)”
(You mentioned this team looks different from what it was the first few weeks. You look different as a quarterback than the first couple of weeks. Is there anything you can point to that’s changed your game?) – “No. I just think familiarity. I’m just a little more comfortable with the guys in the huddle and everyone is playing together a little bit better. I think the coaching staff is understanding the guys that we have and the talents that we have and again, the positives and the negatives and really trying to bring up those positives. So learning the players as we go. I really think it’s just we all kind of know each other now so we’re coming together a little bit more.”
(I’ve wanted to ask you this for a couple of weeks now. You have such a settling presence and a coach-like mentality. I’m not trying to rush you into retirement but what do you want to do when you’re done?) – “I don’t know yet. I want to be a full-time dad for a little bit and then I know after that, I’ll try to figure it out from there. I know I owe my wife a lot of emptying of the dishwasher and other little chores that I have neglected to do during the season. I’m not sure yet. I get that question a lot and I just try to say I’m going to wait and put everything I have into playing and then when I’m done, I’ll see what comes up.”
(What has this season been like for you away from your family? Is this the first time that you’ve been away?) – “Yeah, the first time. It’s been very difficult in that regard and the rollercoaster of playing and not playing and playing. It makes it a lot easier when I’m playing because I’m so busy and focused and into it; but it’s not the easiest thing in the world.”
(What’s the thing you miss the most about your kids being around?) – “Going home and eating dinner or going home and being able to watch a soccer practice or a football practice or help with math homework. Those are the little things that they start to add up a little bit after a while. It’s things that I’m not able to do with some of my younger ones that I was able to do with my older ones because I’m not around as much right now. But going into this season, I knew there were certain sacrifices that had to be made and they’re my biggest fans, so they enjoy it when I’m out there playing.”
(Do you feel like you’re playing as long as you produce?) – “You’re talking about in the present right now or for years?”
(Right now.) – “I think I just look at it as a week-to-week proposition. I’m pouring everything I have into the Steelers right now. I know and have experienced a lot just how quickly things change in this league, so I’m giving everything I have to perform well on Monday night this week.”
(I know we talked about it after the game but that hit you had on Bills S Micah Hyde – did you feel that afterwards or the next day?) – “I feel good right now. It makes me feel more like a football player sometimes to do stuff like that.”
