Minkah Fitzpatrick won’t just miss tomorrow’s game against the New Orleans Saints. He’s now expected to miss multiple games following ESPN Adam Schefter’s report that Fitzpatrick had surgery, an appendectomy, after falling ill following the team’s Friday walk-through practice.
Here’s what Schefter reported Saturday evening.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers lost Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick for multiple weeks when he was forced to undergo an appendectomy after their walk-through practice Saturday, league sources told ESPN.
Fitzpatrick did not feel well at practice, and tests revealed that he needed to undergo the appendectomy as quickly as possible, a source said. The Steelers had announced Saturday that Fitzpatrick would miss Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints with appendicitis.
The Steelers are hoping that Fitzpatrick can make it back as quickly as possible, but an appendectomy typically results in a multiweek absence.”
It’s unclear how long he’ll be out for but it’s expected to be a multi-week absence. Pittsburgh was just returning one star to its defense in OLB T.J. Watt, taking the field tomorrow for the first time since Week One, but now will have Fitzpatrick out of commission likely through at least the team’s Week 11 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
As Schefter notes in his report, Bengals’ QB Joe Burrow missed just over two weeks after his appendix was removed during the summer.
After playing the Saints tomorrow and the Bengals in Week 11, the Steelers will travel to Indianapolis and face the Colts for a Monday night game on November 28th for their Week 12 game. Pittsburgh will then go to Atlanta in Week 14 before returning home to play the Baltimore Ravens for the first time in 2022.
Schefter notes the earliest Fitzpatrick could return is the Week 12 game against the Colts but there’s no guarantee he’ll make it back by then.
Replacing Fitzpatrick will be either Tre Norwood or Damontae Kazee. Kazee will make his Steelers’ debut tomorrow after breaking his forearm in the team’s preseason finale.
