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When the Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots in Week 3 to open the season with a 3-0 record, we noted that quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had just completed his sixteenth game as Buffalo's starting quarterback under Chan Gailey. In those 16 games, Fitzpatrick completed 327-of-552 passes for 3,841 yards with 32 touchdowns, 18 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 86.2. That's a solid season's worth of quarterbacking no matter what your name is.
However, in the six games since that date, Fitzpatrick has crashed back down to earth - along with the entirety of Buffalo's passing attack. In those six games, Fitzpatrick has completed 118-of-180 passes for 1,235 yards with seven touchdowns, nine interceptions and a quarterback rating of 77.4.
Teams have figured out how to generate pressure on Fitzpatrick, and he's become sloppy with the football as a result. Fitzpatrick's depleted receiving corps is limited in what it can accomplish in terms of the route tree, and they haven't been making plays for him. The play-calling has been suspect. But most importantly, Fitzpatrick isn't playing as well as he could be - and more importantly, he's not making the players around him better. There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Buffalo's $59 million quarterback.