(via Tampa Bay Buccaneers Communications) - The National Football League today announced that Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for Week 2. This is the second consecutive NFC Offensive Player of the Week Award for Fitzpatrick.
Against the Philadelphia Eagles, Fitzpatrick completed 27-of-33 passes (81.8 pct.) for 402 yards (12.18 yards per attempt), with four touchdowns and one interception, compiling a passer rating of 144.4. Fitzpatrick, who threw four touchdowns in Week 1 against New Orleans, is just the third player in NFL history to throw at least four touchdowns in each of his team’s first two games of the season, joining Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (2018) and New England’s Drew Bledsoe (1997). He also joins New England’s Tom Brady (2011) and Carolina’s Cam Newton (2011) as the only players in NFL history to record at least 400 passing yards in each the first two games of the season. He is the first NFL quarterback to throw for at least 400 yards in consecutive games since Philip Rivers in 2013.
Fitzpatrick is the third player since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger to record consecutive games with 400 yards passing and four touchdowns, joining Miami’s Dan Marino (12/2/84 vs. L.A. Raiders-12/9/84 at Indianapolis) Tennessee’s Billy Volek (12/13/04 vs. Kansas City-12/19/04 at Oakland). He is the first player since the merger to do so in the first two games of the season. He is the only player in NFL history to throw for at least 400 yards and four touchdowns in each of the first two games of the season.
Fitzpatrick’s 151.5 passer rating is the highest mark through two games since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger (minimum 40 pass attempts). Fitzpatrick is the first player in the NFL to post consecutive games with a passer rating of 140 or higher since 2015 (Seattle’s Russell Wilson, 11/29/15 vs. PIT-12/6/15 at MIN). He is the first player in Buccaneers history to do so.
Fitzpatrick threw two 75-yard touchdowns against Philadelphia. He is the first player in franchise history to record multiple touchdown passes of 75 yards or more in the same game and the first player to do so since Week 1 of 2017 (Alex Smith, at New England, 9/7/17). He has four touchdown passes of 50+ yards through the first two games of the season, tying N.Y. Jets QB Joe Namath (1972) for the most 50+ yard touchdown passes through the first two games of the season in NFL history.
Fitzpatrick joins Josh Freeman (Weeks 5 & 9, 2010) and Brad Johnson (Weeks 9 & 14, 2002) as the only players in team history to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week multiple times in the same season. He is the first ever player in franchise history to win NFC Player of the Week in consecutive weeks.
This is Fitzpatrick’s seventh career Offensive Player of the Week award, having earned the honor twice this season as well as with the St. Louis Rams (Week 12, 2005), the Houston Texans (Week 13, 2014) and the New York Jets (Weeks 14 & 16, 2015; Week 2, 2016).
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