Early in Sunday’s 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at Acrisure Stadium, it was a concerning sight seeing Pittsburgh Steelers star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick face down on the turf, clutching at his hamstring.
Fitzpatrick, who has missed just one game in his Steelers career, left the game and was quickly ruled out, which put his status for the Week Nine matchup on Thursday Night Football in jeopardy. Head Coach Mike Tomlin confirmed Monday during his press conference with the media that Fitzpatrick will be out Thursday night against the Titans.
Without Fitzpatrick, that creates a gaping hole in the secondary and defense overall. There is no real replacing Fitzpatrick, and Tomlin said that it will be a “multi-man job” in the Steelers’ matchup with the Titans.
“Obviously, the loss of Minkah is a significant one. It is a multi-man job, not a one-man job,” Tomlin said Monday during his weekly press conference, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Thankfully, we have some veterans back there, guys like [Miles] Killebrew and [Damontae] Kazee and Keanu Neal, who are veteran NFL players, and that lessons the impact, hopefully.
“But obviously, it’s not a one-man job when you’re talking about replacing Minkah, whether you’re talking about his playmaking ability or his hub of communication ability.”
Losing Fitzpatrick is a big blow. It could be a potentially bigger blow depending on the amount of time Fitzpatrick misses.
That’s where the depth concerns at safety come into play. Those concerns and the talent behind Fitzpatrick stood out in a massive way Sunday as the safety duo of Kazee and Neal struggled in coverage, allowing some big plays to the Jaguars in the Steelers’ 20-10 loss.
Those issues could get cleaned up on a short week with Kazee and Neal settling into more consistent roles without Fitzpatrick, but that remains to be seen. Trying to fill the void left behind by Fitzpatrick will be a patchwork, multi-man job as Tomlin stated.
That might include veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson seeing more snaps at safety, and even veteran special teams ace Miles Killebrew getting more run against the Titans.
“Pat has been very versatile. He displays really, really good football intellect. That’s one of the things that attracted us to him,” Tomlin said of Peterson and potentially playing more safety, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “As I mentioned last week, when we lost Cam Sutton in free agency, that made [Peterson] an attractive option because of his flexibility, positional flexibility and his football intellect that’ll allow him to move around and do some of the things that Cam was able to do when he was here.”
Against the Rams, Peterson showed he could handle moving around defensively and wearing multiple hats. Though he played primarily cornerback on Sunday against the Jaguars due to an injury to Levi Wallace, Peterson could move back into that hybrid role in Week Nine against the Titans with Fitzpatrick out.
Of course, Killebrew could see a larger role, too, after coming on in relief of Fitzpatrick and playing 12 snaps defensively against the Jaguars. Though he’s known as more of a special teams ace, Tomlin stated that he’s “not concerned” about Killebrew’s abilities defensively having been a starting safety in the NFL before signing with Pittsburgh.
We’ll see what the safety position looks like on Thursday without Fitzpatrick. Tomlin was spot-on in calling it a “multi-man job” trying to replace Fitzpatrick on the field. That’s a credit to just how great the star safety is. Hopefully the Steelers can develop a sound plan — and quickly — on a short week.
