Fitzmagic is Back

After seeing their team fall to the laughably bad and previously winless Jacksonville Jaguars, it’s hard to be a Tennessee Titans fan right now. The silver lining, at least for Harvard sports followers, is that Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 will be under center for at least the next few weeks.

Late in the first half of Sunday’s game, starting quarterback Jake Locker went down with yet another injury, this time to his foot. Sources say that the injury will require surgery.

With Locker headed to the room that bears his name, Fitzpatrick stepped up with his best performance of the season but also had a costly miscue.

The former Crimson standout completed 22-of-33 passing for 264 yards and two touchdowns in the air. He also rushed for a score to account for 21 of the 27 Titans points for the day.

Though he was only sacked once, it proved to be the deciding factor of the game. With the Titans down 22-20 late in the fourth but in position to make the game-winning field goal, Fitzpatrick was stripped of the ball by Jaguar cornerback Will Blackmon, who took the pigskin all the way to the opposite end zone to put Jacksonville up by two possessions.

By the time Fitzpatrick connected with tight end Delanie Walker to pull the Titans within two, there was only forty seconds left. Titans failed to recover the onside kick, and the Jaguars ran the clock to their first victory of the season.

The loss dropped Tennessee to 4-5 on the year, second in the AFC South and a game back of the sixth and final wild card spot in the AFC, which is currently held by the 5-4 New York Jets.

Titans coach Mitch Munchak confirmed that Locker is lost for the season in a press conference late Monday afternoon. In the mean time, the quarterback job is the Harvard grad’s to lose.