The Jets defense faces a stiff challenge on Sunday in Buffalo, against red-hot Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Here is a breakdown of the Harvard-product from Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine –
“Obviously, (he is) very intelligent, can make a lot of the throws, a bigger arm than you think. They don’t take a lot of the shots down the field, but when they do, he’s accurate. He can throw the ball up the seam and he always knows where to go.
“When you look at this offensive line individually, you wouldn’t rank it up there with the better offensive lines in the league, but it’s a group that plays wells together, but I think he makes them better. Their sack total is so low, that’s a credit to them, but I think that even more so goes on the quarterback that he has the ability to identify where’s the rush coming from, where’s the free runner, where is there a chance for there to be a breakdown.
“Not just with his arm and his quick release that he can beat you, but he’s always really good on his feet. That’s one thing for us that’s maybe different for some of the other quarterback we’ve played. We have to be a little bit more edge-conscious in the pass rush than we have been against a (Philip) Rivers or a (Tom) Brady, guys that are going to be a little bit more stationary. Fitzpatrick does a nice job moving around and if he’s sees an opening, he’ll take off. He hurt us last year in the first game, a couple of scrambles that he had in a two-minute drive and then another one towards the end of the game.”
