Fantasy Football Week 9: Is Ryan Fitzpatrick Just a One Night Stand?

Ryan Fitzpatrick's Sunday performance didn't quite live up to the hype or his newest owners' expectations—and it came nowhere close to matching the Harvard grad's much-trumpeted Wonderlic score.

Fitzpatrick, the Buffalo Bills QB who became an overnight waiver wire sensation and the darling of the Start'em Sit'em clones, went 24-of-48 against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8. 

For those who haven't gone all metric and are really, really into the stats thing, at 223 yards he passed for more than half of a quarter mile. He also tallied a solo TD. Hold your applause.

Instead, let the whining commence. Oh, wait—it already has. The fantasy boards are ablaze with hot-topic posts from owners who benched Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers as they clamored to put the word "starter" behind the name of their can't-miss waiver wire pickup of the week.

Okay. Bad choice.

Rodgers, injured ankle notwithstanding, managed just 170 yards and no TDs against the New York Jets on Sunday. The point king QB in most FF leagues failed to complete 50 percent of his passes. Rodgers: 44 percent. Fitzpatrick: 50 percent. Yep.

Regardless, anyone who consciously started Fitzpatrick over Rodgers has problems that run much deeper than the outcome of a fantasy football game. Further, anyone who is now actually complaining about starting Fitzpatrick over Rodgers runs the risk of having the day room attendants revoke their computer privileges.

Fitzpatrick, for those who blindly bought into the hype, was never a great pickup. Never. He was a good bye week waiver wire pickup for attention deficit owners who drafted two QBs with the number 8 and the word "week" behind their names.

Like me.

Sure, we all saw his numbers. Two TDs in Week 4, three in Week 5 and four in Week 7. Those Week 7 TDs came against the Baltimore Ravens—a team that wasn't known for giving up points. Or yards. Or anything. Until they met Mr. Fitzpatrick. 

The Buffalo QB used his arm to scorch Baltimore for 382 yards, and the Bills piled up 514 yards (which is more than a quarter mile) of total offense. 

The Bills lost, of course. It's Buffalo. 

As the sun rises and a new week approaches, reality beckons, and Fitzpatrick's former BFFs are taking the walk of shame back to the fantasy boards to post in one of the hundreds of hurriedly hatched "I knew he was bogus all along" threads. Perhaps we should all take a long, deep breath.

Put down the mouse. Step back from the computer. Keep your hands in clear view and away from the "drop" box next to Fitzpatrick's name. 

As our starters begin to come back online and we resume our normal programming, keeping Fitzpatrick around for the remainder of the season and the playoffs might not be the worst idea. 

Consider. As the year winds down, there is absolutely no chance the Bills will be benching players for a postseason run. Their starters, for whatever it's worth (and they aren't all that bad if you squint really hard), will likely be in the game, playing their little hearts out for fans eager to see them nail down next year's top draft pick.

Their last two regular season games put them on the field with the Jets and the Patriots, a pair of real NFL teams with real playoff potential—teams that may or may not have any incentive to show up, let alone win, by the time they face the Bills.

If your league runs through Week 17, and some still do, and your team is 8-0 or 7-1 and going strong, Fitzpatrick might be a better championship option than a playoff-bound QB who takes the field sporting a golf shirt in the regular season closer.

Who knows? Maybe his performance prior to Week 8 wasn't a fluke. Maybe Week 8 was the fluke. If he stops reading his press clippings and starts trying to live up to them, Fitzpatrick could get back on course next week against the Bears and begin posting point totals that match his Wonderlics.

And if you are wondering about this Wonderlic stuff, wander here.