As a free safety, touchdowns are rare for Minkah Fitzpatrick — even if they aren’t quite as rare for him as they are for seemingly everybody else who plays defense in the NFL.
But Fitzpatrick’s touchdown Sunday was the fifth of his career. The All-Pro Pittsburgh Steelers defender, therefore, averages one of those per season.
A blocked kick? Now that is special. Or, at least, one of the few statistics Fitzpatrick hadn’t yet achieved in the NFL. So when Fitzpatrick squeezed through the left side of the Cincinnati Bengals’ placekick protection team to get his hand on Evan McPherson’s potential winning extra point Sunday, he finally had his white whale.
BLOCKED. WHAT A GAME.@minkfitz_21 said NOPE!
— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2022
????: #PITvsCIN on CBS
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“Me and (T.J. Watt) were joking with him, saying, ‘You don’t have a blocked kick,’ ” Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “ ‘We don’t know why you like to talk about how you’re this speed demon,’ because last year (a Fitzpatrick blocked kick was negated by penalty).
“He got one (Sunday). He joined the club. Minkah is a leader. He’s a leader in that secondary.”
Watch @minkfitz_21 fly in for the block. #HereWeGo
— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2022
????: #PITvsCIN on CBS
????: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/pHwdeoOMZE pic.twitter.com/biWfkVX4g4
Fitzpatrick certainly was one during the Steelers’ season-opening 23-20 overtime victory. His touchdown and critical blocked kick — an extra point with 2 seconds left in regulation that almost certainly would have given the Bengals a win — were joined on Fitzpatrick’s stat sheet by a career- and game-high 14 tackles, 10 solo.
His work over a ridiculous career-high 104 snaps played (all 100 on defense, four on placekicks) left his fingerprints all over the Steelers win.
“It was him just being that high energy player for us, flying around and making creating havoc on the ball,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “And obviously he started the game off for us, jumped in with a pick six.”
AN ABSOLUTE BALLHAWK@minkfitz_21 | ???? #PITvsCIN on CBS | NFL+ https://t.co/E0NYNUzFXC pic.twitter.com/OTa0akC5Ij
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 11, 2022
Fitzpatrick scored the Steelers’ first touchdown of the season, 137 seconds into the opener on the seventh play and second defensive snap, when he stepped in front of Tyler Boyd to catch a pass thrown by Joe Burrow and then returned it 31 yards to give the Steelers the lead in a game they never trailed.
“We came into the game and said we’ve got to create turnovers,” Fitzpatrick said after the game, “and that’s what we did today. We have to get the offense the ball as much as we can, and that’s what we did.”
For Fitzpatrick, it was a 2022 debut not unlike his overall Steelers debut in 2019 when, five days after being acquired for a first-round pick, he had an interception and forced fumble. That foreshadowed a first two seasons with the Steelers in which Fitzpatrick would have nine interceptions, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and two touchdowns.
Last season, though, with struggles from the front seven against the running game, Fitzpatrick’s “splash” went somewhat missing (two interceptions, no touchdowns, no forced fumbles), in part, because his tackles went way up (124) as he played closer to the line of scrimmage to support the run defense more.
More Steelers news:
• Steelers brace to play on without injured star T.J. Watt• Steelers Jaylen Warren satisfied with work as backup in NFL debut, preps for possible starting role
• Steelers’ Diontae Johnson unmoved by his spectacular leaping, 1-handed, toe-tap catch
In the 2022 opener, Fitzpatrick played both roles.
“Minkah is a complete player,” Heyward said. “A lot of people sleep on ‘Mink’ and what he’s capable of doing, whether it’s being a box safety or a ball hawk.”
Or even, as shown Sunday, a kick blocker.
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