Inside the Dome

The Absolute, Definitive Reason the Patriots Lost to the Titans

The Patriots 20-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans during Wild Card Weekend has drawn just about as much scrutiny as any loss I can remember in Major Sports. The aftermath has led to rampant speculation about the future of the key architects of the Patriots 20-Year run as well as a wild array of scenarios and reasons that ultimately led to their loss. There are thousands of plays, transactions and injuries that have happened over the course of the past several years that could be spun as a “definitive” moment in causing the Patriots fall this past weekend. In reading through all these there is one that seems to have been left completely out of the discussion…The Rise of Ryan Fitzpatrick, the magician that defeated the Patriots in week 17 this season, costing them a shot at the at a first-round bye and thrusting them into the Wild Card game. But how did we come to this, especially after New England Walloped Miami 43-0 in a week 2 matchup? I present to you the Following Scenario…

What If…Geno Smith never got sucker-punched by teammate IK Enemkpali?

You may be asking yourself…what? The casual football may not even know who these players are. I will spare the full details of how this transpired as a quick google search will pull up the full story, but essentially Smith, who had the inside gig to the Jets starting quarterback job in 2015 got in an altercation over a $600 plane ticket he was supposed to reimburse Enemkpali for. Ridiculous, yes but this happened. This “injury” occurred in early August and was expected to sideline Smith for 6-10 weeks, which would include the start of the regular season. With Smith sidelined who would start for the Jets?

You guessed it, Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Harvard Grads story is well known around the NFL and he produced below average league results prior to signing with the Jets in 2015. Following the Smith debacle, he opened the 2015 season for the Jets with 2 wins, guiding them to a 10-6 record while tossing a Jets single-season record 31 touchdowns and falling just 102 yards short of Joe Namath’s single season passing record, throwing for 3,905 yards. His breakout performance earned him an a 1-year deal with the Jets the following season, although he couldn’t replicate his success sporting a 12:17 TD:INT ratio. He once again hit the FA market in 2017 and was signed to backup Jameis Winston during the next 2 seasons. The highlight of his time in Tampa came during the 2018 season where memorably had 3 consecutive 400+ yard passing games to open the season, throwing 11 touchdowns.

Tampa Bay elected not to resign him and he became a free agent once again which led him to the very impactful 2-year, 11-million dollar contract he signed with Miami in March of 2019. The following month the Dolphins made a move to acquire 2018 first round pick Josh Rosen from the Cardinals which gave the rebuilding Dolphins a veteran QB to pair with the underperforming former first rounder. Fitzpatrick won the starting job for Miami, but Rosen came in off the bench during weeks 1 and 2 (which included the 43-0 loss to the Patriots) and picked up starts in both weeks 3 and 4 before the Dolphins again swapped QBs, going back to Fitzpatrick.

Despite not getting their first win of the season until week 9 (against the Jets, no less) Fitzpatrick helped them win 5 of their final 9 games including the 27-24 win over the Patriots in which he threw for 320 yards, threw for 1 TD and ran for another without committing a turnover.

If you have stayed with me through the life and times of Ryan Fitzpatrick, I applaud you. But now I ask you to imagine a world where he never started for the Jets in 2015, never threw a Jets record 31 touchdown passes, and never became a viable option for the Dolphins to consider. Would he still have been the Dolphins starting QB this past season? No one can say for certain but let’s say no he wasn’t – and Miami was forced to go with another one of 2019’s Free Agent QBs.

The “Top-Tier” list of available QBs in March 2019 was a mix of players who commanded large contracts (Nick Foles), former starting castoffs that landed jobs as backups on teams where their only path to playing time was injury (Tyrod Taylor, Blake Bortles, Josh McCown, Mike Glennon) and Teddy Bridgewater, who elected to resign with New Orleans and held down the fort while Drew Brees was hurt.

The question is who would Miami of turned to, assuming Fitzpatrick was not viewed as a viable option? Bridgewater it seemed enjoyed the prospect of playing for a winning team although its possible Miami would have made a hard play for him with the guarantee of a starting job. With the porous running game the Dolphins had all season, I don’t see a scenario where even Bridgewater, not to mention the other available quarterbacks beat New England in Foxboro in week 17. Even more improbable, would have been a scenario where Rosen was the starting quarterback and beat The Patriots in week 17.

Would the patriots win the super bowl this year if they got by the Titans? No, I don’t believe with the offensive’s recent struggles to score points and their inability to run the ball they would have made it any further if they had the bye. Is it Geno Smiths fault for starting the altercation that got him punched in the face, leading to Ryan Fitzpatrick’s ascension with the Jets, his signing with the Dolphins and ultimately his win over New England in Week 17 to force them To the Wild Card game? No, but it is another one of the farfetched “What If Scenarios” we can all dream about. So what is the Absolute, Definitive reason the Patriots lost to the Titans, the one that seems to be lost in all the other headlines? Derrick Henry.