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It was another disappointing evening in the wonderful rollercoaster ride it is to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan as of late. After a thrilling win in last week’s performance against the Tennessee Titans in which the defense forced four turnovers, many expected the Steelers to come out and put up a fight against the number one rated team in the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs. Obviously that was not the case. The Chiefs got off to a hot start scoring 14 unanswered points in the 1st quarter and realistically never looked back. Patrick Mahomes and the dynamic Chiefs’ offense tore through the Steelers secondary that was seemingly just getting back to a full bill of health, even without star tight end Travis Kelce being out with COVID.
With Kelce being ruled out for the game, this meant that Sunday’s game was going to be the first time that Chiefs’ star wide receiver Tyreek Hill was going to be on the field without his versatile tight end drawing coverage away from him. That being said, I think many, including myself, fully expected Pittsburgh’s defense to capitalize on that. Instead, Mahomes found other options within his offense including Byron Pringle who caught six passes (two of them for touchdowns) and the Steelers seemingly did not have an answer for whoever the ball was being thrown to.
One of the many bright spots in this defense has been the play of Minkah Fitzpatrick, especially as of late. It is well documented that the starting free safety already has recorded his first 100 tackle season in 2021 with two full games still to come to close out the 2021 season. Although there have been missed tackles by Fitzpatrick and the team itself, I think everyone who watches Steeler football can clearly see that this defense would not have been able to keep this Steelers team in games, if it was not for the play of Fitzpatrick in both rush and pass coverage.
Throughout the season, our defensive front has had a hard time winning the line of scrimmage allowing for the running back to reach the second tier of linebackers, which created a problem of its own. In those situations, Fitzpatrick has played downfield and filled in as somewhat of a third linebacker in hopes of meeting the running back before he can reach the last tier of defenders. Although stopping the run has been below average the whole season, it is safe to say that without his downfield mindset type of play so far this season, the outcome of some of these closer games may not have gone in our direction.
After Sunday’s loss, Fitzpatrick was asked about this team’s confidence level going into the final two weeks of the season with a playoff berth still on the line. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has been very clear that this organization wants “volunteers not hostages” and Fitzpatrick’s response does not shy to far away from that:
This exact attitude is what our leader QB Ben Roethlisberger was expressing a few weeks back about this team continuing to fight no matter the outcome. He called it the “Steeler Way,” fighting until the end and never giving any opponent an easy way out when playing the black and gold — an attitude that should be instilled in everyone who is lucky enough to grace the Steelers logo. There have been very few people who have played with the same effort as Fitzpatrick and others week in and week out, and you can clearly tell who is and isn’t just by watching our defense pursue the ball carrier. With only two games left in the regular season, our playoff hopes are still alive as we go into these final two games against tough division opponents. SteelerNation can only hope that this attitude is instilled in not only within Fitzpatrick himself, but everyone on the defensive side of the football, ending the season with a playoff berth in hand.
WATCH THE FULL POST GAME INTERVIEW HERE:
Do you think this defense can bounce back in back-to-back division games? With the playoffs still within reach, #SteelerNation can only hope. Click to comment below!
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
With Kelce being ruled out for the game, this meant that Sunday’s game was going to be the first time that Chiefs’ star wide receiver Tyreek Hill was going to be on the field without his versatile tight end drawing coverage away from him. That being said, I think many, including myself, fully expected Pittsburgh’s defense to capitalize on that. Instead, Mahomes found other options within his offense including Byron Pringle who caught six passes (two of them for touchdowns) and the Steelers seemingly did not have an answer for whoever the ball was being thrown to.
One of the many bright spots in this defense has been the play of Minkah Fitzpatrick, especially as of late. It is well documented that the starting free safety already has recorded his first 100 tackle season in 2021 with two full games still to come to close out the 2021 season. Although there have been missed tackles by Fitzpatrick and the team itself, I think everyone who watches Steeler football can clearly see that this defense would not have been able to keep this Steelers team in games, if it was not for the play of Fitzpatrick in both rush and pass coverage.
Throughout the season, our defensive front has had a hard time winning the line of scrimmage allowing for the running back to reach the second tier of linebackers, which created a problem of its own. In those situations, Fitzpatrick has played downfield and filled in as somewhat of a third linebacker in hopes of meeting the running back before he can reach the last tier of defenders. Although stopping the run has been below average the whole season, it is safe to say that without his downfield mindset type of play so far this season, the outcome of some of these closer games may not have gone in our direction.
After Sunday’s loss, Fitzpatrick was asked about this team’s confidence level going into the final two weeks of the season with a playoff berth still on the line. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has been very clear that this organization wants “volunteers not hostages” and Fitzpatrick’s response does not shy to far away from that:
This exact attitude is what our leader QB Ben Roethlisberger was expressing a few weeks back about this team continuing to fight no matter the outcome. He called it the “Steeler Way,” fighting until the end and never giving any opponent an easy way out when playing the black and gold — an attitude that should be instilled in everyone who is lucky enough to grace the Steelers logo. There have been very few people who have played with the same effort as Fitzpatrick and others week in and week out, and you can clearly tell who is and isn’t just by watching our defense pursue the ball carrier. With only two games left in the regular season, our playoff hopes are still alive as we go into these final two games against tough division opponents. SteelerNation can only hope that this attitude is instilled in not only within Fitzpatrick himself, but everyone on the defensive side of the football, ending the season with a playoff berth in hand.
WATCH THE FULL POST GAME INTERVIEW HERE:
Do you think this defense can bounce back in back-to-back division games? With the playoffs still within reach, #SteelerNation can only hope. Click to comment below!
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
