Four years ago, Aqib Talib and Ryan Fitzpatrick were scheduled to become colleagues on Prime Video's coverage of Thursday Night Football. If Talib hadn't stepped aside from the job after his brother shot and killed a man at a youth football game, the most recent postgame show could have gotten very spicy.
After Thursday nights 17-14 overtime win by the Broncos over the Seahawks, Fitzpatrick went all in as to Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. Fitzpatrick called Nix's performance "almost disrespectful to the quarterback position" before later saying, "That right there is garbage. That effort is garbage."
It felt personal or, frankly, planted by someone from the Broncos in an effort to send a message to Nix. Either way, it was over the top. And it has prompted a reaction from Talib, whose career included a stint with the Broncos.
“You are disrespectful to the quarterback position because you suck," Talib said on the Gridiron podcast. "Period."
Talib had plenty more to say about Fitzpatrick.
"We’re talking about a guy who played for nine different teams in 17 years," Talib added. "Ain’t nobody want his ass. We’re talking about a guy who only played for a team for more than two years once. That’s Buffalo. And his record as a starter in Buffalo was 19-35. That’s fucking suck. A guy who played 17 years, 147 starts, and never sniffed a playoff game. He never touched the playoffs ever. That’s disrespectful to the quarterback position.
"You suck. You suck, bro. We’re talking about a guy who got 169 interceptions, more interceptions than he has starts. How can a quarterback of his caliber talk about what is disrespectful to the quarterback position? I know Amazon is begging for you to be more entertaining, and you've just got to just blabber out some bullshit. Nobody’s worried about what Fitzpatrick said. Nobody was worried about playing against you. You suck.”
It's a harsh, blunt critique from Talib. But it's not much more harsh or blunt than what Fitzpatrick said about Nix. And it will be interesting to see whether Fitzpatrick has anything to say in response to Talib.