Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick Receives Big Praise From Alabama's Nick Saban "I Always Listen To Those Kinds Of Guys"

Pittsburgh Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick has been getting a lot of attention lately for supposedly altering the course of the Week 10 game against the Green Bay Packers. If Fitzpatrick did initiate the change in the defensive play-call, it likely contributed heavily to the Steelers squeaking out a win. Now Fitzpatrick's former coach from the University of Alabama, Nick Saban, has been asked about allowing players to chime in regarding play-calling.  

The Steelers hardly ever have games where fans aren't stressed the whole time, where we stay up by two scores and always look like we know what we are doing. Instead, watching the Steelers is like having a stress test. The treadmill that is the game keeps going faster and faster and the incline keeps getting steeper. There is never relief in sight it feels. The Packers game was no different. 

Pittsburgh has used its favorite kind of prevent defense in the fourth quarter. They allowed the Packers to pick up small plays, but stopped them from getting larger ones, at least that was the goal. Nearing the end of the fourth quarter, the Steelers punted the ball to Green Bay with about a minute left on the clock. Easy peasy, right?

Nope, the "bend, but don't break" defensive method allowed the Packers to immediately pick up a deep pass for 46 yards from quarterback Jordan Love to receiver Jayden Reed. They were then able to make their way systematically down the Steelers' half of the field until they reached the 16-yard line. The game was 19-23 in favor of Pittsburgh, so they just had to hold them to a field goal. With only :03 seconds left, Love threw what appeared to be a perfect pass to the end zone that was beautifully intercepted by Damontae Kazee. 

Right before that last pass, Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin called a timeout. What happened next is a bit of a mystery, but the story from Mark Kaboly of The Athletic is that Fitzpatrick was angry about the play-call and wanted the coaches to make a switch. According to Kaboly, Fitzpatrick was so relentless about the call that it led to Tomlin calling that time out. 

"Yeah, I had an idea," Fitzpatrick told reporters after the game. "So me and Grady [Brown] talked [Teryl] Austin into changing it."

When Saban recently appeared on The Pat McAfee Show, they asked him if this was really something his former player would do. They wondered if the All-Pro safety really has the kind of football IQ that would sway a coach's decision. Saban knows he would have listened to him. 

"Number one, Minkah came here as a guy that had great football savvy. He's one of those attention to detail guys and he wanted to learn as much about the game as he possibly could because he was really driven to be the best player he could possibly be. He had all the right competitive characteristics. He was a great person, he did everything, he was a great leader. And because he learned the game so well, there are times when players look at you and say, 'Why aren't we doing this?'"

It isn't surprising that Saban holds Fitzpatrick in such high esteem. Coming out of high school, Fitzpatrick was a five star, multi-sport athlete. When he arrived in Tuscaloosa, he helped Saban and the Crimson Tide win two National Championships. During his sophomore season, he broke the Alabama record for the longest interception returned for a touchdown against the Arkansas Razorbacks. He also broke the Alabama all-time record for career interceptions returned for a touchdown (4).

Fitzpatrick was a Consensus All-American his sophomore and junior year. His junior year, prior to entering the draft, he won the Jim Thorpe Award and the Chuck Bednarik Award. In his three years at Alabama, he had 171 combined tackles, five sacks, nine interceptions and scored four touchdowns.

Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick Is That Kind Of Player

Saban went on to tell McAfee and company that there was a time when he was coaching in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns in the early 1990s and he did exactly that. He said it was Thanksgiving Day and they were playing the Dallas Cowboys, who had just won the Super Bowl the year prior. No one was expecting the Browns to do well, but they held their own. As the game was winding down, the Cowboys were in the red zone looking to make a game-winning score. Saban said the coaches had all kinds of ideas of how to stop them and the players said, "why not run red two?" That was the play they were most comfortable with and it worked. Browns' Eric Turner stopped Dallas tight end Jay Novacek and the Browns won. 

"That kind of input from players I always welcome because they have to believe in what you're doing. So if you call something and they don't believe in it, it's probably not going to work. Sometimes, it's good to listen and hear what they have to say and when you've got guys like Minkah, who you have a tremendous amount of respect for, I always listen to those kinds of guys," said Saban.

Fitzpatrick, who is currently out with a hamstring injury, is that kind of guy. He is a player the Steelers rely heavily upon to shore up the secondary.

Fitzpatrick was originally drafted by the Miami Dolphins with the 11th overall pick in 2018. In September of 2019, the Steelers traded for him and never looked back. Fitzpatrick appears to fit perfectly into this defensive laden team and his hard work and humility have made him a fan favorite. During his five years in Pittsburgh, he has had 17 interceptions, three forced fumbles, and 353 combined tackles.   

What do you think happened on the sideline that day against Green Bay? Click to comment below.

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