Though Minkah Fitzpatrick hasn’t been on the field since the first quarter of the Week Eight loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, he’s been pretty busy off the field.
There was helping defensive coordinator Teryl Austin get into the right look against the Green Bay Packers on the final play, leading to the game-sealing interception from fellow safety Damontae Kazee. Then there was the reported spat in the locker room following the Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns with wide receiver Diontae Johnson.
Now, just a few days away from returning to the lineup for the first time in four games, Fitzpatrick spoke to the media Friday and addressed the argument with Johnson. He downplayed the incident as something brothers do, echoing Johnson’s comments.
“Yeah, so it’s a brotherhood. Brothers fight, you know? I got a younger brother, me and him butt heads sometimes,” Fitzpatrick said to reporters Friday, according to video via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor on Twitter. “Sometimes I put him in a headlock, and sometimes he gotta gimme a little push or shove just to let me know he’s there. So, it’s a brotherhood.
“That’s how we love each other sometimes. And at the end of the day, we all make amends. We move forward and chase the same goal together.”
It might seem like a big deal from an outside perspective, two key players on either side of the football clashing the way they did after the loss to the Browns. But it’s normal.
Star defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said that he wants passionate players, guys who want to win and are ticked off when they lose. That’s who Johnson is. Though he does need to control his emotions better, as head coach Mike Tomlin says, you’d rather say “whoa, than sic ’em.” That’s the case with Johnson and Fitzpatrick, among others in the locker room.
Cooler heads prevailed, but it’s no surprise Johnson was so upset after the Steelers’ worst offensive showing of the year in the 13-10 loss to the Browns. Fitzpatrick felt he needed to step in to try and calm him down, and it led to a bit of an argument before Heyward and T.J. Watt calmed things down.
That’s normal in a locker room, especially an intense, high-pressure place like an NFL locker room.
The group is rather tight overall, and sometimes brothers fight, as Fitzpatrick said. It’s not a big deal at this point. Everyone has moved on, and they are back pursuing the ultimate goal together: another Super Bowl championship.
