The best part about watching Sunday Night football this past weekend -- other than added confirmation that regular season football draws closer -- is that we saw Ryan Fitzpatrick in a Buffalo Bills uniform; completing six of 11 passes for 61 yards passing. I have nothing against the guy; except he couldn't throw down field (when he wasn't being chased) and he had these crazy legs that, like the tail of a dog, started running totally on their own; sometimes for first downs on third-and-11. Sure. Maybe if he had better talent protecting him, or a certain wide receiver that showed up and played hard every Sunday, or a constant threat at running back, maybe he would have had better success.
Either way, he's gone.
This doesn't mean our backup quarterback situation isn't silently becoming hella-murky right now. On June 22, Carlos Holmes wrote:
Jordan Palmer looked better than free agent acquisition J.T. O'Sullivan at times. He has all the physical tools and incredible arm strength to make all the throws. Palmer demonstrated his arm strength, hooking up with receivers repeatedly for long touchdowns.
On Monday, Joe Reedy writes:
Making his case: Jordan Palmer is making a bid for second-string QB and had a couple nice completions to Maurice Purify and Freddie Brown.
In Saturday's mock game, Jordan Palmer, with the black team build with mostly starters, completed 10 of 14 passes for 104 yards passing. J.T. O'Sullivan, with the white team built with mostly reserves, completed only five of 14 passes for 88 yards passing -- 63 yards on one touchdown pass to Jerome Simpson.
The issue right now isn't so much who will be our backup quarterback -- that should be demonstrated during the preseason games when the backup and third-string quarterbacks get a majority of the offense's snaps. The issue right now, if you take the pulse of the team's beat writers, is that O'Sullivan hasn't appeared to have solidified his position as the team's backup quarterback.
I've just given you a really good reason to watch a preseason fourth quarter. Go me.