Former New York Jets quarterback turned NFL broadcaster Ryan Fitzpatrick believes Rodney Harrison dumping on Zach Wilson on Sunday Night Football two weeks ago was an inflection point for public opinion on Wilson.
Joining the Pardon My Take podcast this week, Fitzpatrick discussed how sensationalized the ups and downs of a season can be thanks to New York City’s wall-to-wall sports media coverage, and why an incident like Harrison’s nationally televised jokes at Wilson’s expense can become a positive in the right circumstances.
“It’s very difficult, especially now with the younger kids,” Fitzpatrick said. “They’re seeing everything. I promise they’re seeing everything.”
When Harrison tried to get Chiefs defender Chris Jones to join him in bashing Wilson postgame after a narrow Kansas City win, fans and media came out against Harrison.
“I think people really flipped a little bit, and now people want to see Zach succeed,” Fitzpatrick explained. “Because it has been so negative toward him, and you’re kind of happy he’s playing a little bit better now.”
Fitzpatrick added he sees a similar dynamic taking place with Justin Fields and the Bears in Chicago, who put up 40 points on Thursday Night Football last week after 14 straight losses.
Teams who can contain the negative energy of playing poorly in a big city can sometimes flip that into a rallying cry or motivating force, Fitzpatrick said.
“You start to bond and it’s us against the world,” he told hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter. “That mentality really does come into your mind.”
Wilson and the Jets followed up that narrow home loss to the Chiefs and Harrison’s comments with a win in Denver. Maybe they have Harrison to thank for turning their season around after all.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.