What we have here is a failure to communicate.
That’s really the only reason why Cam Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick had a sideline exchange in the first place. After Heyward was flagged for unnecessary roughness right before halftime of last Sunday’s win over Baltimore, cameras captured the two having a heated exchange on the side. Fitzpatrick’s point was taking penalties in a game with the Steelers’ season on the line was reckless. Heyward’s point was he did nothing wrong.
And just like those new commercials, they essentially pulled out the challenge flag, reviewed what happened, and moved on.
On the latest episode of his Not Just Football podcast, Heyward gave one last overview of what happened. And more importantly, how everything is now water under the bridge.
“Third or fourth quarter, he was like, ‘oh, you’re just gonna be mad at me,'” Heyward said. “So it was like, we need to kiss and makeup and I just headbutted him and I kept it moving. But we’re good. That’s football.”
In football, a headbutt is a good thing. So long as Fitzpatrick had his helmet on too. Otherwise, he would’ve had bigger problems than his ankle injury.
As Heyward said, and later alluded to, sideline exchanges in football are as common as blocking and tackling. It’s an emotional game, especially one as weighty as this contest, Pittsburgh needing to win to make Week 18 meaningful.
“Minkah didn’t get to see anything so he thought I was trying to start something…we’re allowed to be mad sometimes.”
Heyward was weakly flagged for simply being unable to get off the Ravens’ pile of bodies. It gave the Ravens a fresh set of downs and they capitalized, scoring the next play to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.
Heyward and Fitzpatrick made up and more importantly, stepped up in the second half. Heyward’s run defense was key in getting third down stops while Fitzpatrick sealed the win with an interception, his sixth of the year.
My rule is simple. So long as players aren’t physically assaulting each other on the sideline – and sometimes that’s not even a big deal – caring about players getting mad is generally a non-story. It sure looks like one and always captures headlines but this was much ado about nothing. Both guys are now focused on beating the Browns and trying to keep their season alive.
Check out the latest episode of Heyward’s podcast below.
