Lack of interceptions 'doesn't really eat' at Steelers free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick
As a two-time, first-team All-Pro free safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick is counted upon to make big plays in the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary.
It hasn’t happened yet this season.
Playing on a defense that has recorded just two interceptions — only two NFL teams have fewer — Fitzpatrick is searching for his first turnover.
It’s not just the lack of interceptions that is glaring. The next pass Fitzpatrick breaks up this year will be his first. The lone pass he touched was credited as a drop.
That’s quite a departure for a safety who had 20 pass breakups and nine interceptions combined over his first two seasons with the Steelers.
“It doesn’t really eat at me,” Fitzpatrick said Thursday. “I know they are going to come. I just have to make them when they do come. I should have three (interceptions) by now. That eats at me more than one that might not come. I just have to catch what comes at me, make the plays that come my way and do my job.”
Fitzpatrick admitted that coach Mike Tomlin has reminded him not to get frustrated by his lack of turnovers.
“I just have to keep getting in my position, do what I do on the field, fly to the ball and the plays are going to come my way,” Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick actually has gone 12 regular-season games without an interception. His last was in Week 10 last season at Jacksonville when he had two.
“There are plays that I missed,” he said. “The last couple of games there were plays that didn’t come. It happens. It happened in my first year, and it happened in my second year here.”
Fitzpatrick will have a chance to snap his streak Sunday when the Steelers play the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. It was in a game against the Browns at Heinz Field last season that Fitzpatrick intercepted a Baker Mayfield pass and returned it for a touchdown that gave the Steelers a 10-point first-quarter lead en route to a 38-7 victory.
“It makes him be aware of where certain people are,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m that type of player where people have to know where I am because I move around the defense. I don’t know if I’m in his head or not. He makes plays. I make plays.”
He just would like to make more of them starting Sunday.
Joe Rutter is a TribLive reporter who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since the 2016 season. A graduate of Greensburg Salem High School and Point Park, he is in his fifth decade covering sports for the Trib. He can be reached at jrutter@triblive.com.
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