It's not a surprising development, but it's one that will continue to spark a little debate: Buffalo Bills interim head coach Perry Fewell confirmed on Monday that Ryan Fitzpatrick will remain his team's starting quarterback.
Given that the Bills have won two of their last three games with Fewell and Fitzpatrick leading the charge, the status quo is exactly what was expected for a coach looking to earn himself a permanent head coaching gig. But apart from the fact that the Bills are 3-3 in games Fitzpatrick has started this season, the five-year veteran from Harvard has hardly earned the job.
Fitzpatrick is coming off of consecutive dreadful performances. In his past two games - a loss to the Jets and a win over the Chiefs - Fitzpatrick has completed 21 of 43 passes (48.8% completions) for just 184 yards, with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He did not eclipse 100 passing yards in either contest. He's also run for 49 yards, which is nearly the exact equivalent of his passer rating in those games (48.98). Add in two fumbles lost and five sacks, and you get an even clearer picture of just how bad Fitzpatrick has been of late.
In the seven games in which Fitzpatrick has seen significant snaps (his six starts and a Week 6 win in New York in which he played in relief), he's thrown for 123 yards or less in five of those games. He only averages 13.6 attempts per team game this season, which disqualifies him from NFL.com's QB rating rankings; if he did qualify, he'd rank ahead of only three league quarterbacks: Jake Delhomme, Josh Freeman and JaMarcus Russell.
Buffalo has managed a 4-3 record in the seven games Fitzpatrick has finished thanks in large part to the team forcing a whopping 23 turnovers in those contests. That's in comparison to the six turnovers forced in the team's other six games.