FLORHAM PARK, N.J. –- Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brandon Marshall might have to improve on their celebrations.
But the New York Jets quarterback and wide receiver have their texting game down pat.
Marshall said Fitzpatrick starts texting him after games and throughout the week and that has led to their rising chemistry.
“Every form of communication that is out there, he uses,” Marshall said. “Whether it is voice memos, text messages, video chats, group texts, emails -- he sends it to us in groups and individually. It’s constant. He’s relentless.”
It’s worked, though, as evidenced by Marshall’s 12 receptions for 131 yards and jump-ball touchdown in the corner of the end zone to force overtime during the Jets’ 23-20 victory over the Giants. The week before, Marshall caught nine balls for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s a very easy guy to throw to, and part of it is his physicalness and part of it is just his smarts,” Fitzpatrick said. “He has great awareness out there and then the communication factor, it’s something we’ve talked about all year long, but especially the last few weeks, we’ve really been on the same page with the routes and the throws.”
Marshall said Fitzpatrick will send him video messages of different looks to study and ask what Marshall might see and like.
“Ninety-percent of it is what he likes or what he wants and tells us what he wants us to do,” Marshall said.
Marshall said former quarterbacks such as Chad Pennington and Chad Henne in Miami and Josh McCown in Chicago also stayed in constant contact throughout the week much like Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick noted how technology has made things much easier to stay in touch with his receivers.
“Technology, back in 2005, wasn’t the same as it is today,” Fitzpatrick cracked. “I used to send stuff on my beeper. [Sending clips to receivers is] something I’ve done more here than in other places, and part of it was just kind of our schedules and the way we do things here. Part of it is just having some guys that really understand the game and from a simple clip, can really get on the same page with what I’m trying to get them to see.”
Fitzpatrick was asked if he group-texts Marshall and Eric Decker. The quarterback said he usually sends individual clips to each, but mentioned how he joined the Jets’ offensive line group text.
“There is a great O-line group text,” Fitzpatrick joked. “But that’s usually not about football. … I snuck my way into that one.”
Marshall says being in constant communication with Fitzpatrick has produced results. Perhaps they should start texting each other on how to celebrate, as Marshall said things got awkward after the Giants’ victory and the two ended up almost kind of spooning at the end.
“We sat there for a second,” Marshall said of the end, when Josh Brown missed a 48-yard field goal in overtime. “We didn’t get up and run on the field; we just hugged each other and he put me in this weird position. It was really awkward. I was like laying on top of him, so I tried to maneuver myself into a better position.”
“It was almost like me on top of him and he was on his back. It was weird.”