Palladino: Fitzpatrick's Anger Can Ultimately Benefit Jets
By Ernie Palladino
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A few days before the Giants' 1989 playoff game with the Rams, Bill Parcells sidled up to Lawrence Taylor.
The master of mental manipulation had an important matter to take up with his defensive star.
Taylor, by any account the greatest pass-rushing linebacker to have ever set foot on a gridiron, had failed to sack Rams quarterback Jim Everett during their regular-season meeting, a 31-10 loss in Los Angeles. By contrast, an up-and-coming linebacker for the Saints had dropped him four times in two meetings that season.
Parcells was not going to let that little tidbit get by the proud Taylor.
"I got a plane ticket for you," Parcells said. "I want you to go to New Orleans. Go find Pat Swilling. Give him your plane ticket and helmet. You stay in New Orleans and have a nice time. He'll play."
Taylor walked away, fuming.
Then he went out that Sunday afternoon carrying a chip as big as old Giants Stadium and sacked Everett twice. The Giants lost that game in overtime as Flipper Anderson caught Everett's touchdown pass and raced into the tunnel, ball aloft. But no one could blame the setback on Taylor.
He was good and ticked, much in the same way as Ryan Fitzpatrick was when he set Jets owner Woody Johnson, general manager Mike Maccagnan, head coach Todd Bowles aflame Monday for his benching the previous day.
MORE: Fitzpatrick Rips Jets' Owner, Front Office, Coach For Losing Faith In Him
What Taylor didn't understand then is what Fitzpatrick totally gets now, that anger on the football field can be a good thing. Whether the negative stimulus comes by outright insult, job removal, or subtle questioning of one's abilities, the lighting of a fire under a player's posterior and that player's angry reaction have produced some fine results through the years.
Consider the back of Fitzpatrick's pants sufficiently lit and smoking.
Now it's up to him to put up some numbers and show Bowles he ultimately made a mistake last week in his switch to Geno Smith. Fitzpatrick got a break when Smith's ACL went "Boing." If he continues to falter as he did for much of the Jets' 1-5 opening, the Bryce Petty Show will open.
MORE: Ryan Fitzpatrick Returns To Jets Starting Lineup
But for the time being, Fitzpatrick will take the field in Cleveland on Sunday a bitter man, and there's nothing wrong with that. Even Bowles acknowledged anger as a great motivator, though tea and cucumber finger sandwiches were probably not on the menu for the anticipated office meeting between coach and reinstated starter.
Whatever Bowles said and however Fitzpatrick reacted to it will have little bearing on what happens Sunday. Bowles doesn't need a contrite quarterback at this point. He needs one who will remain annoyed enough to eat up an inferior Browns squad. To do that, he'll have to take one more step away from the 11-interception thrower he was at the start and repeat last week's clean performance.
If that means Fitzpatrick needs to maintain a grudge against his team's hierarchy, Bowles will gladly sign on for that. The coach even admitted to occasionally riding anger as a player to transport himself to a higher level.
League history is full of angry men. Giants linebacker Jessie Armstead played an entire career angry about getting passed over for seven rounds in the 1993 draft before the Giants called his name in the eighth. San Francisco safety Ronnie Lott turned his anger into a Hall of Fame career.
Ever wonder why Miami defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has become the master of cheap shots?
Anger.
Don't even talk about the players of football's Paleozoic Era. Some of those guys were just plain nuts.
It's a powerful motivator.
A little dose can do a player good.
If it's anger that Fitzpatrick needs to re-birth himself as the winning leader of last year, then so be it.
Johnson, Maccagnan, and Bowles will gladly take the icy stares if their angry quarterback salvages the remainder of this lost season.
Please follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino