Could Fitz be The Guy?

So I've been bored today and typically when I get bored things get destroyed. This time I took my energies in a different direction and decided to look at Fitz's stats just to compare how he's doing to how other quarterbacks are doing this season. Given, the numbers do not tell the whole story, you could throw for 300 yards every game but habitually throw away the game with a costly interception in the 4th *cough Favre cough* but they can give you a decent feel for a QB or a snapshot of how they typically perform. Looking at Fitz's career, the numbers aren't great they're average, but if you focus on this year maybe he's coming into his own?

No doubt the man is in all aspects a large step up from Trent Edwards, I don't think there's a way you can quantify that... oh wait there is, about 80 yards/game better in terms of passing and about 15 points/game better since Fitz became the starter.

Alright, so he's much better than a street bum made out of glass, sweet.

How about in comparison to other starting quarterbacks around the league?

In terms of yards/game, a pedestrian 198.3yrds (23rd in the league), just behind the starting duo in Philly and just above old man Favre...nothing impressive there other than the comparison to Edwards but we're a running team anyways or so we're told.

1st down percentage: Not much for this stat because without a great run game or with a highly penalized O-line you're bound to have many longer 3rd downs which are harder to convert and if you have a good running game you'll probably be picking up 1st downs on the ground but NFL.com uses this so at 32.9% Fitz is 20th, above the likes of Ryan, McNabb, Eli Manning, Sam Bradford, Favre, and a few more starters.

Completion percentage? Middle of the pack at 17th with 61.2% - hey it's still within 10% of the leader and above franchise QBs Flacco, McNabb, Palmer, Ryan, Cutler etc.

TD's? Considering he's only started and played in 3 games, with 7TDs or 2 1/3 per game, that's not bad, that ranks as 15th for all QBs over the course of the season but over the course of those 3 games is #1 and not tied for it either (correct me if I'm wrong I did this all by hand on paper). Also he only has 2 INTs which is less than one per game for those of you who are unfamiliar with 2nd grade math.

The biggest surprise is QB rating: Fitz sits at 99.9 or 4th in the NFL. Vick, P. Manning, and Rivers in that order are the only guys ahead of him. That puts him in some pretty good company.

Sure, you can argue that he's faced some pretty easy pass defenses in NE, NYJ and JAX and that's a valid point. You might also argue that we've been playing catch up in every game and need to throw it to try to compete which might inflate his yards per game but with that comes the need to be efficient with your passes and passer rating is about as good as you can get in terms of measuring a QBs efficiency. You can also say that it's only 3 games and you can't accurately judge him based on those 3. No doubt, small sample size, the Jacksonville game could just be an outlier bringing his stats up, but every QB is going to face those opponents once in a while. Henne for example has faced both NE and NYJ and a comparably terrible pass coverage team to JAX, the Bills, and he has a passer rating of 85.3 (17th) and has 7TDs and 5INTs over 2 fewer games than Fitz (other games vs GB and MIN, both victories and Henne threw for 3TD and 1INT in those 2 games).

So what am I saying? I'm saying, maybe, just maybe, IF Fitz can continue to produce to a similar degree with the pieces we have in place right now, he COULD be a viable option down the road and maybe our 1st round pick, despite the always wise council of Ralph, could be better spent elsewhere. QBs are historically hit or miss in the 1st round as we all know, even high in the first round (Ryan Leaf? Matt Leinart? Tim Couch?) so with the franchise as it stands, it might be better to get someone on the defensive side of the ball who can be an immediate impact player as it's obvious that our defense (worst in the league) is our biggest weakness.

Maybe Fitz is on a hot streak and will come back to earth but maybe he's finally hit his stride and has come into his own. It's anyone's guess, but as it stands now it wouldn't surprise me if they don't make a move at QB come April.