In an exclusive Sports Illustrated interview, retired Jets' quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick assesses the current situation with his old team. Fitzpatrick said he's "Proud of Zach [Wilson]."
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00:00 The problem the Jets are in right now is, what's the other possibility?
00:04 They want to get crazy and make a trade.
00:06 They have to have another willing participant to do it.
00:08 And right now, I don't know if there's anybody out there that's willing to make those trades.
00:12 Ryan Fitzpatrick joins Sports Illustrated on behalf of Little Caesars,
00:15 the official pizza sponsorship of the NFL.
00:18 Ryan, I want to get to that, but let's talk a little football first.
00:21 Your New York Jets came so close to beating the Kansas City Chiefs last night,
00:25 a pretty good performance by Zach Wilson as well.
00:28 After seeing him last night, do you think that the Jets should stick with Wilson?
00:32 Well, they've been pretty steadfast with that, you know, and he did show some improvement.
00:36 It's a really tough situation right now.
00:38 I think everybody in that city and on that team,
00:42 they're still reeling from Aaron Rodgers going down in that first game.
00:46 But it's disheartening to see because they're such a talented roster
00:50 and everybody with the coulda, shoulda, wouldas,
00:53 what could have been, you know, if Aaron stayed healthy.
00:56 I was proud of the way that Zach played.
00:58 It's not an easy city to play in,
01:00 and he's obviously received a bunch of grief as these weeks have gone on.
01:05 But for him to improve like that, hopefully we continue to see growth.
01:08 The problem is as these losses stack up, you just feel the season slipping away.
01:14 So at this point, do you think that they should still continue to look for a veteran guy or stick with Wilson?
01:19 Yeah, I mean, I think what are the options?
01:22 You know, people floated around options of making a trade for, say, Kirk Cousins.
01:27 I don't know if that's even a possibility.
01:29 Ryan Tannehill's been floated around, which I think would be a great option as well.
01:33 I don't know if that's a possibility.
01:35 The problem the Jets are in right now is what's the other possibility?
01:40 You know, they have somebody on their practice squad,
01:42 but Zach proved this week that he deserves another week based on who's on their roster right now.
01:47 They want to get crazy and make a trade.
01:50 They have to have another willing participant to do it.
01:52 And right now, I don't know if there's anybody out there that's willing to make those trades.
01:56 I want to ask you about the Cincinnati Bengals, another former team of yours.
01:59 They're off to kind of a rough start, one in three right now.
02:01 How do you think they go about turning things around?
02:03 Yeah, that's been one of the biggest head scratchers of the league so far.
02:07 I think everybody's waiting, "Just give Joe Burrow time. These guys are going to straighten it out."
02:13 They're so talented.
02:14 They're very similar to the team they've had in the last few years that have been so successful.
02:20 And we've seen Joe struggle early in the season in years past, but this one just feels different.
02:26 They're not on the right page with each other.
02:29 Those back shoulder balls that are going to Jamar and Tee Higgins
02:33 aren't connecting like they have in the past.
02:35 Tee goes down in the game yesterday.
02:37 So this feels a little bit different.
02:40 And they're also running out of time to get it corrected if they want to be a playoff football team this year.
02:45 The Dolphins obviously took their first loss this past week.
02:48 Would you say the Bills are the best team in the AFC?
02:51 We've just come so far from week one when they lost to the Jets.
02:55 And all the questions about Josh Allen.
02:57 The Josh Allen we've seen the last three weeks, that is the Josh Allen we've all come to know and love.
03:03 What a really, really impressive win that they had over Miami.
03:07 And I think it just goes to show, you know, everybody forgot about us.
03:10 But I love what Tua said after the game and just talking about how this will serve as a nice wake up call for the Dolphins.
03:17 I think the Bills got that wake up call in week one.
03:20 And now Miami, you know, after scoring 70 points and everybody having them as the leader of the AFC,
03:27 the Bills said, wait a minute, you're not there yet.
03:29 So Miami is a great football team, Tua's having a great year.
03:32 But I think sometimes you have to take that step back in order to continue to get better and put in the hard work each and every week.
03:39 But I have I have the Bills as the best team in the AFC right now.
03:42 Yes.
03:42 Well, I know that you are joining us on behalf of Little Caesars.
03:45 Tell us about your partnership with them.
03:47 Oh, it's been really fun.
03:48 You know, I'm getting ribbed by all my colleagues and friends and family about all the different commercials that I've been in.
03:56 But the Little Caesars one was so much fun.
03:59 I got to spend a day with Cam Jordan and George Kittle.
04:02 And those guys are goofballs.
04:04 We had as much fun, hopefully, as what comes across in those commercials, riding the tandem bike and sharing some slices of pizza.
04:11 The funniest thing during that commercial was this pizza they bring out.
04:16 It looks phenomenal and tastes phenomenal.
04:18 So George and Cam kept eating it.
04:22 And the chef on set kept getting upset with them because then they had to bring out a whole fresh new pie for us.
04:29 But it's great pizza.
04:31 And, you know, one of the things that we're just hoping is that people remember, even when your team's on a bye week, this pizza is here.
04:38 If you do it an hour before pregame, anywhere in that window, hour before a game starts, there's going to be plenty of perks and even Super Bowl 58 tickets that you could be available and eligible for.
04:50 All right. That's all I got.
04:51 Thank you so much for the time. Really appreciate it.
04:52 All right. Thank you.
04:54 (upbeat music)
04:57 (upbeat music)