First Call: Pair of former Steelers snag awards; Myles Garrett cited for crash; Minkah Fitzpatrick's ranking

In Friday’s “First Call,” a pair of former Pittsburgh Steelers pick up NFL awards. Myles Garrett receives a vehicular citation after his car crash earlier this week, and it’s not his first. A league-wide gambling trend is emerging in the NFL.

And we find out where Minkah Fitzpatrick is trending among NFL safeties in 2022.

Remember him?

Former Steeler Melvin Ingram is the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Month for September.

Now a linebacker with the Miami Dolphins, Ingram was a big part of the team’s 3-0 start.

In three games, Ingram has two sacks, one pass defensed, two quarterback hits, and three tackles for loss. In the turnover department, the 33-year-old has one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. He’s the only NFL player to have multiple sacks and multiple fumble recoveries so far this season. The ex-Steeler also has seven tackles (six solo).

Jevon Holland forces a strip sack! #FinsUp

: #BUFvsMIA on CBS
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/AgvEitKLgz pic.twitter.com/82xhn1RRyM

— NFL (@NFL) September 25, 2022

Ingram sulked his way out of Pittsburgh in the middle of last season when he thought that he should’ve been getting more playing time. The Steelers traded him to Kansas City. Then Ingram went to Miami in free agency.

Alex Highsmith, the player that was getting most of the snaps Ingram was likely to get here in 2021, has 4.5 sacks, the most in the NFL this season.

However, Ingram had just one tackle during Miami’s 27-15 loss in Cincinnati Thursday night.

We’re not done

Another former Steeler, Corliss Waitman, was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

The Denver Broncos punter had a stellar night in front of a national television audience during last week’s action.

On “Sunday Night Football” versus the San Francisco 49ers, Waitman punted 10 times for 476 yards in an 11-10 win.

Waitman set a Broncos record with six punts downed inside the 20-yard line with no touchbacks. Two went inside the five-yard line.

One of Waitman’s punts pinned the 49ers near their end zone. As a result, Denver’s defense forced a safety.

Waitman’s average is just 45.4 yards per punt, though. That’s good for only 24th in the NFL.

The Steelers’ Presley Harvin III is 13th at 47.5.

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More on Myles

New information is coming out about Myles Garrett’s car crash. Via TMZ.com, police have issued Garrett a citation over his accident Monday. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Cleveland Browns Pro Bowler was traveling at an “unsafe speed for the type of roadway being traveled” just before the accident in Sharon Township, Medina County.

Garrett is believed to have been traveling 65 mph in a 45 zone, according to documents acquired by TMZ.

Meanwhile, according to WKYC in Cleveland, Garrett has been cited for speeding at least six times before he was involved in this accident.

The TV station reported that between Sept. 24 and 25 in 2021 — Garrett was pulled over twice in a 24-hour period, first for driving 120 mph and then for going 105. In May 2020, he was cited for going 100 mph in a 65 zone.

The 26-year-old defensive end was leaving the Browns facility Monday when he reportedly swerved to avoid an animal on the road, according to the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He wound up flipping his Porsche multiple times.

Garrett was discharged from the hospital on the same day of the crash and diagnosed with shoulder and biceps strains and was set to undergo additional tests. Garrett has returned to the Browns team facility, but has yet to practice. He has not yet been ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Should he be higher?

NFL.com posted its list of top safeties in the league. Steelers star Minkah Fitzpatrick is rated as the fifth-best NFL safety in 2022 so far.

Here’s the explanation from the Next Gen Stats analytics team.

“Despite aligning at an average depth of 12.4 yards, Fitzpatrick has made 10 defensive stops this season (including a league-high seven when aligned as a deep safety). But the two-time All-Pro’s most impressive skill is his ability to process information in split seconds on the back end of the defense. That elite awareness in coverage has translated to Fitzpatrick breaking up a pass or intercepting the ball on 21.8% of targets since entering the league in 2018, the third-highest ballhawk rate (percentage of targets as nearest defender resulting in a pass defensed or INT) in the NFL during that span (min. 150 targets).”

The four safeties in front of Fitzpatrick based on their play this season — in order — are Derwin James (L.A. Chargers), Donovan Wilson (Dallas Cowboys), Talanoa Hufanga (San Francisco 49ers) and Jalen Pitre (Houston Texans).

More money, less points

Scoring is down in the NFL. And that has been reflected in the gambling world.

According to FoxSports.com, heading into Thursday night’s game to open Week 4, the “under” in the Over/Under (O/U) point-total bet won 30 times in 48 games (62.5%).

In primetime games, the under-total held seven of 10 times. That’s not surprising, given last year’s numbers from the first half of primetime games. First half unders in night games finished at 33-21 last season, a solid 61%.

According to the Fox Sports post, despite the trend — and some corresponding O/U lines that have been intentionally set lower — bettors aren’t shifting their money. In fact, the lower totals are enticing gamblers to throw even more money on the overs.

The Thursday night game to open Week 4 between the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins was set at 48.5 points. Cincy won the game 27-15. So that total of 42 was under.