Can The Steelers Staff Let Minkah Fitzpatrick Be His Best…Again?

On this episode of Steelers Touchdown Under: Matty & Shannon discuss why the Pittsburgh Steelers need to stop stuffing Minkah Fitzpatrick around and let him do what he does BEST: being the best Free Safety in the NFL and picking apart opponents offense by roaming the secondary.
Why has Minkah been stopped from being his best? Who needs to take responsibility for it? As fans, why is this so egregious and frustrating? Does it actually make any sense? Is the offense to blame? And how can the Steelers fix it?
Find out what Matty & Shannon have to say on all of this and more, in this latest episode of the Steelers Global Perspective.
Don't forget to leave your thoughts & opinions in the comments below!
#steelers #pittsburghsteelers #nfl #herewego #herewegosteelers #steelernation #nflnews #steelersfootball #steelersupdates #steelersnews #defense #steelersrumors #nfldraft #steelersnews #miketomlin #steelerscamp #defense #offense #minkahfitzpatrick #nflstats

[@walterleamy4623]

Hey thanks for your show and insight!

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

Pleasure mate! Appreciate it. I got a bit cranky in this one. More to come over the weekend - content on camp, Mason McCormick and more!

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

Have a great weekend!

[@shannonwhite5177]

Your very welcome. Thank you for your continued support 🙏

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

100!

[@jesss7930]

We want Minkah-ball!

[@mattpev]

🤘🏽🖤💛🖤🏈👍🏽 YES WE DO!

[@shannonwhite5177]

Preach, sister! 🙌💯🙏

[@JW0143]

Coaches did what they had to do due to all the injuries at MLB. We had nobody to play in the box at some points and Minkah was the best option. If the remodeled MLB room can stay healthy we'll see Minkah roaming the middle again

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

Yeah I get that. But I still feel they could have done more to get another or a better MLB to play that position before the trade deadline 🤷🏽‍♂️ and let the best FS be a FS? Especially when Minkah had to play through a broken hand at one point. Hope you’re having a good weekend @jwsteelers1

[@jagmd]

And the injuries on defense were likely due to the fact that they were forced to play 80 snaps a game because the offense couldn’t buy a first down.

[@JW0143]

@@jagmd Actually that's just a myth that many fans have run with. Opposing offenses ran 63.3 plays per game against us last season which ranked us as the 14th fewest meaning 18 teams defenses played more snaps. We just had a run of bad luck just like Baltimore did at CB a couple years ago.

[@shannonwhite5177]

BTW The Steelers coaches weren't at fault, but the Steelers front office was. Knowledge Steelers fans knew that guys like Neal and Wallace were not the answers.

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

Actually to me they share some of the responsibility because how you don’t advocate for the best FS in the NFL to be allowed to play there - ESPECIALLY if you’re a DB coach by trait like Austin & Tomlin are - is odd at best and dumb at worst. Yes the Front Office can take more responsibility for it but we all know the sway that some of the Steelers coaches have and have had over the team. Side Note: sometimes I like a title that we prove wrong rather than right 😅😇

[@stevetanner5335]

Khan didn't trade draft assets for a fundamentally flawed team. The Steelers weren't competing for SB. Replacing a SS on a team that featured Matt Canada at OC simply wouldn't have changed outcome.

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

Mmm but don’t you always have a duty to make it better? I don’t accept it as an excuse, maybe it puts more boundaries in on what you’re prepared to do…but playing the best FS in the game at another position makes no sense. As I said in the video…you wouldn’t do it for a qb?

[@stevetanner5335]

Matty, FS and QB aren't fungible: QB productivity is more highly correlated to success

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

The way some Defenses play means the FS is the QB of the Defense even if they don’t wear the green dot. We wouldn’t have played Troy at ROLB. So Minkah being a pseudo-MLB is daft. We aren’t playing Pickens at RB? He was played out of position and it has to stop, why pay him 17m+? I don’t get it.

[@stevetanner5335]

Don't disagree with with your argument that paying him top money and playing him out of position makes little sense, my point really speaks to longer term strategy : why give up valuable assets on a team that couldn't compete for a championship. I would argue the fault lies in roster construction, thus pointing to the FA period. They knew the depth at SS was at best thin; what's more, they chose.to add a barging bin FA in Neal.and Kazee who is a FS.

[@ryanleaf386]

They all wanna see him fall But minkah fitzpatrick gonna ball

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

Nice rhyme! I like it! Hope you’re having a good weekend mate.

[@ryanleaf386]

@@steelerstouchdownunder 🍻

[@steelersfreak1964]

Comments like that are why there is division the Nation. Any fan who wants anyone to fail who is affiliated with the team isn't a fan. In fact, I would question thier mental health.There are some smart enough not to attach any emotions to a stranger. Such feelings are for family, not any person involved with FB, either coach or player. Until folks like you stop feeding the BS narrative, nothing will change. I will continue to critique the owner, HC, and all players. If you think that is personal, I can't help you. Just know you don't make things better with such overarching BS, shallow comments.

[@steelersfreak1964]

​@ryanleaf386 I am calling you out. You want to help the Steelers Nation, then shut that shit down. You are smart enough to know that doesn't help. That is my issue with Mark. Calling folks " Haters" when they give Coach Tomlin honest criticism from their point of view has nothing to do with hate. The whiff of it being a pigment issue and not performance is immature and insulting. Elevate your game and police up those who are not helping the Steelers cause.

[@mattpev]

@@steelersfreak1964 what did Ryan say? I think he was just backing Minkah. Unless something has been deleted between your comment back and me see it 😅

[@stevetanner5335]

Gents -- Tomlin's ego drives the internal notion of complexity. It simply isn't complex. In fact, it has been exposed routinely by upper quartile offenses

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

At times certainly but the Steelers have walked away from few drafts in the past 15 years with more than 1 or 2 medium to long term starters and that hurts.

[@shannonwhite5177]

I said basically the same thing during the podcast. Not the Tomlin's ego part, as I disagree with that statement. However, I agree that the defense is no where near as complex as the Steelers coaches suggest frequently. Teams routinely diagnosis and breakdown our defense easily. That makes attacking weak spots incredibly easy.

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

I agree cause I brought it up 😇

[@steelerStr8Talk]

Totally disagree with that statement, all the injuries they had and they were still a top 10 defense. Shannon sometime you over analyze stuff just my opinion lol

[@steelerStr8Talk]

Totally disagree with that statement, all the injuries they had and they were still a top 10 defense. Shannon sometime you over analyze stuff just my opinion lol

[@steelerStr8Talk]

You’re doing Monday morning quarterbacking should’ve would’ve, could’ve😮. Obviously, if they knew they were going to have their two starting linebackers and one of their safeties go down they would’ve short up those positions more. It’s a little short cited on your part to think they can fill every position with starting caliber players. As Always love your take. Lol :-)

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

I don’t see it as Monday morning quarterbacking because I’ve probably talked about safety issues more than anything else for like 16 months now. I get what you’re saying, I just think it’s dumb to play someone out of their position when they’re the best in the league at it or even if he was Top 3. They could make moves, most people go on about the Khan Artist but the picture created ended up pretty bleak. I said all offseason last year Neal wasn’t enough and Kazee due to his shape & size was not a diverse enough solution. Meanwhile we have guys like Leal hogging a roster spot.

[@shannonwhite5177]

​@steelerstouchdownunder Couldn't agree more. I realize that some people are new to the community. That's the only reason I can fathom that they don't remember we predicted what happened LAST offseason.

[@steelerstouchdownunder]

Haha great point!

[@steelerStr8Talk]

@@steelerstouchdownunder with all the injury issues at linebacker, KZ, getting suspended, and Neil getting hurt Minka wouldn’t have been playing out of position. That’s the only reason he was playing out of position. And they couldn’t have planned for that. So in a perfect world, yeah they could’ve brought in someone else before then but they didn’t know all these injuries were gonna happen. So it is Monday morning quarterbacking in my opinion.