Ryan Fitzpatrick – November 10, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 10, 2019
Postgame – Indianapolis
(What’s it like to see this team rally from the season start to where you are now with two straight wins?) – “It’s been awesome. It is so much fun to be in the locker room when you’re winning and for what we went through in the beginning of the year and that attitude that everyone had and what we touched on last week even after that win, it makes it so much sweeter to go in and celebrate with this group of guys. We all know what we’ve faced all year and what we’ve worked through. Just a different way to win today, but another great team win. I thought the defense played really, really well today.”
(Could you talk about the job that Brian Flores and the coaches have done in raising you guys up from that start against Baltimore to today?) – “I think the coaches deserve a lot of credit and I think the players deserve a lot of credit, too – that whole building just for sticking together. His message has been clear to us the whole time. He hasn’t wavered in what he expects out of us. And again, this is stuff we touched on last week a little bit. But the guys knowing each other know and playing with each other for a couple of weeks and getting practices in and everything’s getting better and better. We’re jelling a little bit more as a team. I think the coaches deserve a lot of credit and I think the players deserve a lot of credit too for going out there, putting work in and not being discouraged by the start.”
(You took a helmet to helmet hit, are you okay?) – “It’s funny, because I took a helmet to helmet and looked and saw a flag and it ended up being a holding call against us. So I wasn’t really happy about that. As a quarterback or even as a guy who has played this game for a long time, I understand why they have the spotters and I understand why they call down. That’s for us, that’s to protect us. For me, it was frustrating because I was on the bench for five minutes. We were off the field and I had sat on the bench for five minutes going over plays and whatever else. It wasn’t until I went back into the game that it was called down to check on me. If they want to check on me, I get it 100 percent. I know why it’s in place, but there was a five-minute gap where I was sitting there doing nothing and they didn’t need me on the field, where I could have been checked. Then also, I just sat in the blue tent for what seemed like 10 minutes, but it was probably one minute, without anybody in there checking me in a very key moment of the game. So, I guess I understand why they do it, I like that they do it, but the timing of it was off and that was difficult for me to understand.”
(All that time is when the game is being potentially decided.) – “It was a huge series in the game for us. We’re going up to the line to start our first play of that possession and they got called from above and I had to come out.”
(Did they tell you that you were exhibiting any symptoms?) – “No idea. I know I got hit facemask to facemask, got up right away and felt fine. Again, I understand the process of it. I just think if they’re going to do it, it’s got to be right away, or it’s got to be when I’m sitting on the bench for five minutes because that was a big part of the game for us.”
(The way it started, and it’s a young football team with guys coming and going. Then all of a sudden over the last five weeks, you’ve got some traction, you’ve won two games. How did that all occur? How did that team that started against the Ravens Week 1, become this football team right now?) – “Well, we’ve just continued to come together. Getting more familiar with each other and then, we touched upon it a little bit, but in practice there’s been such a shift of the way that we’ve worked and the excitement that we’ve had and the confidence that we’re gaining. Even in a couple of those games that we didn’t pull out, Buffalo, end of the Washington game, Pittsburgh, you could see this team gaining confidence. Today was a great example of learning how to in a little bit because the last two games we’ve won in different ways.”
(You had some games where you had some leads and then didn’t hold them in the second half, now you’re doing it. Is this team learning how to win football games?) – “I think so. I think it’s a process. But I think today was a great example of that. The defense really stepping up, the offense playing well early, sputtering and then doing what we had to do at the end when we needed to do it. I thought it was a good team win and different from last week’s win.”
(You and this franchise are in an odd situation. You want to win games and you want to keep getting better, and then there’s the other side of moving forward and the draft next year. Do you feel that? I’m sure you hear it and you know it but is that a strange balancing act for you guys?) – “Not for us. We’re competitors and we want to go out there and play. It’s amazing every week, there’s another obstacle to jump over. Losing Preston (Williams) was huge and losing Mark Walton to his suspension was huge. We had guys on offense who were really starting to come along and produce for us and then all of a sudden, they aren’t out there anymore. So Kalen Ballage comes in and steps up. In the receiver room, we’re going to have guys continue to step up. It’s just amazing, as you go from week to week, it seems like there continues to be more obstacles and hurdles for us to go over and this team is finding a way to do it. I’m really proud of our guys for that.”
(The touchdown run in the second quarter, can you tell us about what you saw develop there?) – “That was, I thought, a well-designed play for us versus the defense that they had. They did a nice job defending it. I stepped up, and our three receivers that were on the right were all running routes that were leading them either to the middle or left side of the field. So, when I stepped up, I saw a lot of daylight. I was surprised I got all the way to the end zone but I made it. So I still have a little bit of quickness I guess.”
