If you watch Thursday Night Football on Amazon’s Prime Video or have at least ever caught a part of its pregame, halftime or postgame shows, you already know. You’ve already seen and heard the great chemistry former NFL players Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth have with one another. Their podcast, Fitz & Whit, which has only been out since the week of Halloween, is simply an extension of what we see when they are together on Thursday nights. As someone who enjoys what the two bring to the table for Prime Video, I was excited to eavesdrop in on last week’s fifth episode of the podcast.
The podcast is recorded on Sunday evenings and the two recap the NFL action along with anything else going on in their lives. The two use their combined 33 years of NFL experience to break down the games, inform and entertain the listeners in about sixty minutes per episode.
Fitzpatrick, known as ‘Fitzmagic’, played for 17 seasons in the NFL and played for nine different teams. He played his college football at Harvard and was a seventh-round draft pick of the then St. Louis Rams, the 14th and last quarterback taken in the 2005 draft.
Whitworth had a distinguished 16-season career with the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams. He earned multiple Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors and won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams.
“Whit and I have the best time working on Thursday Night Football each week, so it was a no-brainer to do this show together,” Fitzpatrick said in a release when the new podcast was announced. “We are excited to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at our lives, friendship, and maybe even interview some of our fellow athletes. We look forward to working with the team at Wave to bring this show to life each week.”
Whitworth added, “I am excited to make this show with my longtime friend and NFL brother, Ryan Fitzpatrick. We’ve had countless moments on the field and off, and now we get to bring those stories and experiences to fans in a whole new way.”
This particular episode started in a way I am guessing no other football podcast has ever started – talking about college cross country. Fitzpatrick wanted to make sure he slid in how well his alma mater did in the NCAA Championships with a Harvard runner taking home the individual honors. After that, it was mostly all about the TNF team and football.
Fitz and Whit were coming off what they said was the best game they had on TNF in three years, a 24-19 Cleveland Browns win over the Pittsburgh Steelers which was played in heavy snow making for a fun game and broadcast. “What an awesome game,” Whitworth said. “What an electric atmosphere, it was sick.”
Fitzpatrick compared the game to the movie Rocky 4 with all of the back and forth. He and Whitworth also talked about what it was like in the green room as they watched together. He explained normally everyone is rooting for the team they picked on the pregame show, however, this particular game, everyone wanted the Browns to win so they could have time with Jameis Winston on the postgame show. With the Browns pulling out the win, the crew got their wish.
After the interview with Winston, Whitworth said he had asked the producer if it would be ok to dive off the desk into the snow and was told, “Don’t ask, just do it.” So, he did, and Winston joined him. That was followed by a snowball fight where Whitworth nailed Winston ‘below the belt’. When Fitzpatrick brought up where the throw landed, Whitworth followed with, “I never claimed to be a quarterback.”
The two talked about their time in Cleveland, how they had over 10,000 steps as they walked around the city and toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Additionally, the stories told about how they traveled to Cleveland on Al Michaels’ private jet were amazing.
Fitzpatrick said he thought he did well on the plane and Whitworth said if he believes that he must have a bad memory. Whit described Fitz making multiple trips to the food line and pointed out that when Michaels came back to where the two were sitting (what they called the coach section versus the first-class area where Michaels sits) Fitzpatrick would keep talking to him even when he clearly was ready to return to his seat.
Next, Whitworth described what he called “by far the most amateur move I’ve ever seen,” which took place as the plane started to land. With the bad weather, the landing was far from smooth, and Whitworth said in classic Al Michaels fashion, he started “saying some ‘Whoa Nelly’s’ and being entertaining.” Whitworth said Fitz pulled out his phone and started recording Michaels, but the flash came on and shined in his face. Whit said when Michaels noticed he was being recorded, he gave a look to Fitz who then threw his phone as to act like it wasn’t him doing the recording with the flash.
Next it was a look at games played over the weekend. This is obviously where these guys and their experience playing the game takes the podcast to a different level. The way Fitzpatrick and Whitworth look at the game comes from their perspectives as players, specifically as a former quarterback and offensive lineman.
One area where this came into play was with a couple of quarterbacks, specifically Bryce Young of the Panthers and former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. With the career Fitz had, he was able to speak firsthand about the situations those guys were in. For Young, it was about being benched and then returning to start. With Jones, it was about the rough start to his career, being released and what to do next.
Fitz said based on the way Young played against the Chiefs he was doing what needed to be done in a case like this. “You use it as a good thing, use it as a reset,” Fitzpatrick said.
As for Jones, who had not signed with the Vikings when the show was recorded, Fitzpatrick suggested unless a playoff bound team has an injury, he should sit out the rest of the year, use it as a reset and choose his next team wisely. Fitz said he believed some time off could be the difference in saving Jones’ career.
Whitworth took a strong stance against any fans who wanted to overly blame Jones. He pointed out the Giants made the mistake, not Jones, saying he didn’t demand the money and then plan to not do well. “He owned it and took accountability and if you have a problem with someone who says, ‘I’m sorry’ and takes accountability, you got issues,” Whitworth said. He then compared this situation to other quarterbacks who just didn’t work with one team but found success elsewhere and said he expects the same for Jones.
As they talk about the games, you can tell the two analysts love talking with one another about the game, about its nuances and yet they don’t lose the audience in the discussion. Just two former players talking ball with a lot of insider knowledge.
Next, it was a segment called ‘Judge Whit’ where Fitzpatrick throws a couple options at Whitworth, and he has to decide which side wins. In this case it started with Dan Orlovsky saying the Steelers are not a Top 3 team because they tend to kick a lot of field goals versus scoring touchdowns. JJ Watt chimed in and pointed out the Steelers had just beaten the Ravens by kicking 6 field goals in an 18-16 win. Greg Olsen, however, disagreed with Watt pointing out what the statistics say.
During the segment, Fitzpatrick threw to a ‘guest’ who was imitating ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin breaking down the ‘tale of the tape’ between JJ Watt and Greg Olsen if they were involved in a cage match. Fitzpatrick had a lot of fun at JJ Watt’s expense saying he is soft now and with his slim figure, he thinks Olsen would have the advantage. Judge Whit ended up ruling in favor of JJ Watt, due to an injury Olsen had suffered playing tennis, so he believed if the match happened today, that is who would win.
To finish out the show, with Thanksgiving coming up the two talked about what they look forward to about the holiday. Whitworth went in on the food and how he likes to make sandwiches with all of his Thanksgiving favorites in one and said his holiday can be best described as, “sitting around with the family, eating until absolute misery and watching NFL football.”
Fitzpatrick said he likes the escape of being outside and frying up a turkey. “I have to man the station, it’s dangerous…and I avoid a lot of the politics and the family fighting and the conversation that happens inside.”
He explained people will come and visit him, have five-minute conversations and leave. Both said those are conversations they prefer, and Fitz called his routine “the cheat code” for a successful Thanksgiving.
Lastly, the two said what they were thankful for and mentioned their families and talked about their football family at Prime Video. They mentioned reconnecting over the last few years since having played together more than 15 years ago.
Both men feel blessed to get to do what they do and have as much fun as they have doing it. And that is exactly what comes shining through when you listen to the Fitz & Whit podcast.
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Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
