ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — All of a sudden Ryan Fitzpatrick is in Rex Ryan’s head.
“He was hot and they were making plays,” Ryan said after Jets 37, Bills 31. “They were throwing them up there, they were throwing jump balls up there, and their guys were coming down with it. You know, Brandon Marshall told me. He said he’s going to kick my butt today, and he was right. He did.”
Marshall said he wasn’t referring specifically to Fitzpatrick, but no matter. Ryan dropped to 8-2 versus the quarterback.
“The Jets were a much better team than we were today, especially their offense against our defense,” Ryan said. “It looked like a mismatch today.”
Asked what surprised him, Ryan said: “Well I mean we thought we could cover them. We couldn’t do anything to disrupt them rhythm-wise. I was afraid to pressure because we weren’t holding up in man coverage.”
Ryan had to burn a timeout before a failed fourth-and-1 midway through the fourth quarter.
“We tried to hard count them,” Ryan said.
Ryan deflected the attention away from concern over his offense to his beloved defense for a change.
“To be honest with you, I think our defense played so poorly that I couldn’t tell you about that,” he said.
Ryan is 0-2 with the Cardinals and Patriots next. His hot seat is getting hotter.
“Well right now it looks daunting against anybody,” Ryan said. “We have to get better before we look at specific opponents. We have to get better.”