Defense wins championships. I know I’m not the first person that has ever used that phrase and I certainly won't be the last. Nevertheless, the phrase’s meaning is something that has proven to be true. Luckily for the Pittsburgh Steelers, we have one of the top ball hawks in the league manning our secondary in safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick. Now I don’t like to make comparisons (there's no reason to add pressure onto an already talented player), but the Steelers have not had a playmaker of this caliber since Troy Polamalu was guarding our back end in the early 2010’s, and the impact he had on this team clearly was immense. Obviously time has passed, and since then, the Steelers have been trying to replicate their old winning ways as much as possible, and they are off to a good start with the defense that the organization has put together.
In just two seasons in the black and gold, Fitzpatrick has collected a total of 228 combined tackles with 11 interceptions for a total of 271 yards and three defensive touchdowns. The impact that he has had on this team in just barely two full seasons is one that has helped change this defense's identity around, building one of the top defensive groups in the NFL on a consistent basis. But Fitzpatrick doesn’t sound like someone who is satisfied with his individual stats over the team's success.
In a recent interview with Teresa Varley of Steelers.com, Fitzpatrick discussed where he sees this defense ascending to in the future. He’s quoted as saying,
“We want that number one ranking all the way around the board, so I think we have to be consistent throughout the season, with good habits, good practices. It’s just setting the standard. The standard is to be No. 1 and that is what we are looking for.”
It doesn’t sound like the Steelers are settled in any way, shape or form. It’s good to hear a quote like this from a player of his caliber. It shows how much fight this guy has. These are the kind of players that are born to be in Pittsburgh.
In saying this, it shows how much confidence Fitzpatrick has in not just what he can do for this team, but what the team can each do for each other in pursuit of winning football games. Having defensive players of Cameron Heyward , T.J. Watt and Stephon Tuitt’s caliber, applying pressure on the ball carrier on almost every play, should take an immense amount of pressure off of that team's secondary. Not to say that this hasn’t happened in Pittsburgh, I think all of us who watch consistent Steeler football can see just how much this secondary has improved over the course of the last four years, but it sounds like Fitzpatrick is looking for this year's group to build something special.
“If you do look consistently, guys are matched up, man to man. We are their heels, there aren’t busted plays. There aren’t too many big plays being given up. I’m not taking anything away from our front seven. They are the best. When you have a front that is getting to the quarterback on almost every snap you don’t even have to look at the coverage on every play”. Fitzpatrick states “I feel like we are an underrated secondary to be honest. We have a great defense. We have a great front seven. They do a great job and help us out a whole lot”.
That being said, Fitzpatrick did not shy away from showing confidence in his fellow defensive backs in saying,
“We have Joe Haden, one of the best corners to ever play the game. We have Steve Nelson opposite of him. Great player, great man to man cover guy. Then me and Terrell Edmunds at the safety spots. I think we are probably one of the best duos in the league, him at strong, me at free. We work well off each other.”
Although the Steelers 2020 defense totaled 18 interceptions and 27 total takeaways (good for second in the NFL), it seems like there is a lot of confidence surrounding this year's coming secondary group. Obviously, we have some guys who might be heading to new teams, but for the core that we still have under contract for the 2021 season, expectations seem to be at an all time high. This coming from Fitzpatrick himself:
“There are times when we don’t hold up our end, but we can be the No. 1 secondary and people say these guys are for real. The amount of talent and experience we have back there is really good. Even the young guys who are up and coming and learning are talented. It’s just a matter of polishing them up and getting some experience under their belt.”
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