Sometimes you don’t have enough things to complain about, and so you have to look for things or even make something up. Sometimes you just have so many options that you don’t know when to stop. Interestingly, when it comes to complaining about the current state of the Pittsburgh Steelers, former DL Chris Hoke didn’t stop before getting to their All-Pro safety.
“How about this? Nobody’s talking about this one. Minkah Fitzpatrick had zero impact on the game”, he pointed out in Thursday’s game against the New England Patriots, during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan with Ron Cook and Joe Starkey. “He had one tackle for loss, he had a couple tackles, but throughout the season, largely, if you think about it here, Minkah has 64 tackles, zero interceptions, zero forced fumbles, zero fumble recoveries, two passes defensed”.
“Yeah, I think he was the one that tipped the ball against the Browns early in the season when Alex Highsmith took it back for a touchdown, but that was an eternity ago”, he went on. “‘A’ players have got to play ‘A’ ball in games like last Thursday, in games like this Saturday against the Colts, and they haven’t gotten that from Minkah this season”.
Now, we can safely assume that 2023 will not be one of Fitzpatrick’s Pro Bowl seasons. I don’t think anybody would argue that. At the same time, he’s missed the better part of five games. On top of that, he’s been asked to play closer to the line of scrimmage more often this year, taking him out of positions to make more impact plays.
Just last season, after all, we’re talking about a player who led the league in interceptions with six. He still had 96 tackles and hit double digits in passes defensed on top of that. But outside of the volume of tackles, he hasn’t produced much this year.
Hoke is right. Zero interceptions. Only two passes defensed, and both of them came all the way back in Week Two against the Cleveland Browns. He simply has not been around the football for most of the season impacting catch points.
Obviously, some of that is what the Steelers have asked him to do. Some of that is missing a big chunk of the season. But I don’t think Hoke is totally wrong to dismiss the fact of Fitzpatrick’s lack of impact. That’s why he’s paid what he’s paid. The Steelers need him to make difference-making plays, splash plays. That’s part of his job.
In the meantime, he’s waiting to see more from his teammates after calling them out collectively, accusing them of feeling entitled to wins just for being a part of a storied franchise. The games are won while the clock is running, not before, and not after.
But some splash every now and then would help. Does that mean he’s having a bad season when he’s healthy? By no means, no. His 2021 season was much better than people made it out to be, as well. But regardless of the reasons, the fact is Pittsburgh needs to get Fitzpatrick making more plays.
