Steelers All-Pro Minkah Fitzpatrick Gets Surprising Support From Myles Garrett After Controversial Week 2 Hit

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been on a roller coaster ride since they beat the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football in Week 2. Chants broke out to fire Matt Canada, and his job status has dominated coverage. Alex Highsmith generated 14 points on the defensive side of the football and he won the AFC Defensive Player of the Week. The performance of Highsmith and TJ Watt has been magnified by a ridiculous Pro Football Focus grading system that gave a higher game score to Myles Garrett in a losing effort.

The biggest story from the Monday Night Football game was the horrific injury to Nick Chubb. He suffered what hopefully will be limited to just a season-ending injury. Chubb sustained a similar injury in college in 2015 and recovered. All Steelers fans hope he recovers and resumes his career. 

Shortly after the hit, clueless commentators, quarterbacks who don’t understand the rules, and a particularly dense wide receiver with a platform in the CBS studio show The NFL Today started accusing Minkah Fitzpatrick of playing dirty. The social media mob was after the Steelers safety and wanted their pound of flesh. 

Steelers Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick Subject Of Venomous Attack By Chris Simms After Week 2 Tackle

Chris Simms and Nate Burleson have never played defense in the NFL. The only opportunities that Simms and Burleson had to tackle when they played football was when the offense turned the ball over. That could be a bad example because turnovers followed when those two were on the field. Ryan Clark was among the first to defend Fitzpatrick on social media vocally.

As the story has evolved, multiple defenders have come out supporting Fitzpatrick. The unfortunate consequence of football is that everyone on the field occasionally does the right thing, and someone gets hurt badly. James Harrison defended Fitzpatrick on TMZ Sports. On Tuesday, Warren Sapp told Rich Eisen how wrong the notion of declaring Fitzpatrick’s hit dirty was. That pales in comparison to what happened on Friday.

Garrett, who knows a thing or two about dirty play, spoke out about Fitzpatrick. The popular Twitter/X account of Dov Kleiman released a video of Garrett talking to Mary Kay Cabot about the controversial hit. Garrett was very blunt in his assessment of what happened to his teammate.

“It wasn’t anything illegal,” Garrett said. “He was playing the game how it’s supposed to be played. It was very unfortunate what happened. Nick getting held up and just planting his foot, the hit, and all that. That’s not unlike what corners around the league do. It’s something that’s very common.”

Most defenders of Fitzpatrick have made the point that the All-Pro safety made a football play. Quarterbacks who get to play with extra protection don’t understand how a running back who is the only offensive player who has to absorb punishment at this point doesn’t get the same protection they do in the pocket.

“We are not going to do anything illegal to take [Derrick] Henry down,” Garrett continued. “We’re just going to go after the ball, hit his thighboards, try to take his legs out. Keep the guy safe and healthy, but we are going to do our best to chop him down.”

Defensive players have a split second to make a decision in the open field. Running backs are the most vulnerable because referees often let the play go longer. The undervalued position is full of players who break tackles routinely. Multiple hits every Sunday mirror what Fitzpatrick tried to do with Chubb. Most don’t end up with the unfortunate result of injuring the running back, and Garrett knows it. It was a classy thing to defend Fitzpatrick. 

This should end the discussion, but Burleson has only had his moment on social media. He may address this with his national platform on Sunday. If he does, Bill Cowher and JJ Watt, if he is on set, should absolutely hammer Burleson for suggesting an All-Pro safety with an impeccable reputation intentionally tried to hurt Chubb.

Fans on social media of the Cleveland Browns calling the play dirty might not know any better, and it is understandable they would be upset about Chubb being lost for the season. It is quite another for an irresponsible commentator to ascribe motives and try to damage a player like Fitzpatrick’s reputation. If Burleson has any class, he should publicly apologize for smearing the Steelers safety on social media.

What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you surprised that Garrett defended Fitzpatrick? Let me know what you think. Please comment below or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbasq. 

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