Fitzpatrick tough to beat on third downs

Four Downs while wondering if picking the Vikings to beat a team that doesn't give up is a good idea or not ...

FIRST DOWN:

You can tell a lot about a quarterback by how efficient he is on third downs. Well, the Bills might be 2-9, but Ryan Fitzpatrick, their starting quarterback the past nine games, has performed well on third downs.

He has completed 64.2 percent of his passes (61 of 95) for 829 yards, an 8.73 average per attempt, seven touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 107.7.

That rating ranks fourth in the league behind only Ben Roethlisberger (115.8), Michael Vick (113.7) and Tom Brady (109.7). It ranks ahead of No. 5 Drew Brees (106.7), No. 6 Matt Ryan (101.2), No. 8 Philip Rivers (90.8), No. 11 Aaron Rodgers (88.5), No. 19 Peyton Manning (74.4) and No. 22 Brett Favre (69.2). The lowest-ranked passer with enough third-down attempts to qualify: Donovan McNabb (53.0). Brees has the most touchdowns on third down (11). The Giants' Eli Manning has the most interceptions on third down (10).

SECOND DOWN:

Speaking of third down, this is why we brought up Fitzpatrick's numbers on third down: The Vikings rank 29th defensively on third downs.

And how's this for an oddball stat: The worst third-down defense in the league belongs to the Patriots, who also have to be tied for the best record at 9-2. The Pats have allowed third downs to be converted a whopping 50.7 percent of the time. They've also given up a league-high 260 first downs, including a league-high 173 passing.

THIRD DOWN:

By now, the entire league knows that Bills receiver Stevie Johnson used his Twitter account to blame God for his dropped 40-yard touchdown pass that would have beaten the Steelers on Sunday.

Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe was asked today if he would ever do that.

"I would never, never, never, never, never do that," he said. "But everybody has their own opinions and everybody does things their way. I mean hey, practice, bro. That's all I got to say about that. Blame God? Is that nuts or what?"

Bills coach Chan Gailey might be struggling as a coach, but as a quote supplier, he delivered this morning during a conference call.

I asked him why he made the change from Trent Edwards, who was released, to Fitzpatrick as the starting quarterback after the second game of the season. Expecting the usual coach-speak tap dance to make sure no one is offended, I was pleasantly surprised by Chan's answer:

"We weren't playing worth a flip on offense."