There’s been a lot of controversy over the last few days as to whether Pittsburgh Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick’s hit on RB Nick Chubb in Pittsburgh’s Monday Night Football win over the Browns was a dirty hit. The hit sidelined Chubb for the rest of the season with a major knee injury, and he came out to defend himself today, as did Cleveland safety Grant Delpit. While Ryan Clark said the hit wasn’t dirty a few days ago, he issued a more passionate defense of the Steelers’ safety today.
“To all these people who think what Minkah Fitzpatrick did was dirty, you’re dumb and you’re soft, and you don’t understand what it’s like to be in that position” Clark said. “You don’t understand what you’re paid to do. My job, Minkah Fitzpatrick’s job, is to give the Pittsburgh Steelers another blade of grass to defend. Not another blade, but as many blades as he possibly can. If you watch that game or you’ve watched Nick Chubb run at any point of his life, he runs through tackles, he runs through people,” Clark said on NFL Live on ESPN today.
He added that Fitzpatrick doesn’t have the same level of protection when it comes to being penalized as an offensive player does when it comes to lowering their head and delivering a head.
The hit wasn’t dirty, with Fitzpatrick making a football play. It sucks that Chubb was injured on the play, but Fitzpatrick was doing what he was taught to do. He went low, and even though Cole Holcomb had Chubb wrapped up, as Clark noted, Chubb has a penchant for running through defenders and picking up extra yards.
Football is an incredibly physical sport, and injuries happen. It sucks and it’s unfortunate, but it’s part of the game. Fitzpatrick’s job is to make plays and keep points off the board, and by bringing Chubb down, that’s exactly what he was doing. There was no ill intent with the hit, and it was just something that happens as apart of the game.
Guys can suffer catastrophic injuries just by planting the wrong way, so it’s completely unfair to say that Fitzpatrick had malicious intent and was trying to injure Chubb. The hit itself wasn’t dirty, and there was no ill-will on Fitzpatrick’s part by just trying to make a play. The Steelers have seen first-hand how Chubb can roll through defenders and make plays through contact, and with the Browns inside the five-yard line, Chubb could’ve easily broke through Holcomb’s tackle and fell into the end zone.
As someone who’s played the game, and played Fitzpatrick’s position, Clark knows how difficult the game can be when it comes to injuries, but he also knows how important it is to make a play and get a stop when possible. He’s right that anyone who thinks the hit is dirty is a little bit soft. Football is a violent game, and while I’m wishing the best for Chubb, a player that I love to watch, the injury is a part of the game and blaming Fitzpatrick is ridiculous.
The discourse over whether or not it was a dirty hit is tiresome and ridiculous. The important thing is that Chubb recovers and gets back to being the player he’s been the past few years.
