5 quick hits from Pittsburgh Steelers 19-14 win over the Baltimore Ravens
Quick remarks from the Pittsburgh Steelers narrow victory versus the Baltimore Ravens.
Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Quick remarks from the Pittsburgh Steelers narrow victory versus the Baltimore Ravens.
Big Ben, Minkah Fitzpatrick and other Steelers thoughts on goals for finishing season.
The Steelers want to go 1-0 every week, but they’ve also said their goal is not to go undefeated but to reach and win the Super Bowl.
Here are what some players have said about their perfect season, as they await Tuesday and another opportunity to go 1-0.
Pittsburgh defeated Jacksonville to remain perfect at 10-0.
Minkah Fitzpatrick and the Steelers are off to a fast start in Pittsburgh.
The Cleveland Browns’ hopes of upending the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC North battle Sunday are off to a rocky start.
Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers to a field goal on their first drive.
And Baker Mayfield found Minkah Fitzpatrick for a TD on the Browns’ first march.
Unfortunately for Cleveland’s QB, Fitzpatrick is a Steelers DB and he went in untouched for the pick-six. The PAT made it 10-0.
PICK 6! @minkfitz_21 to the HOUSE!
📺: #CLEvsPIT on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/Qh00dKLKr7 pic.twitter.com/39im4v48Xf— NFL (@NFL) October 18, 2020
Fitzpatrick has 8 career picks, returning 3 for TDs. He also has a fumble return for a TD.
MINKAH TO THE CRIB 🔥 @minkfitz_21 @steelers
📺 #CLEvsPIT on CBS pic.twitter.com/ziyLYwBIqI
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 18, 2020
Boneheaded penalties were costly both on the field and off the field, as two in the Steelers secondary faced hefty fines by the NFL this week.Â
Mike Hilton has been fined $15,000 for his roughing-the-passer penalty in the second half against the Broncos. Minkah Fitzpatrick was fined 11,619 for his horse collar tackle, also in the second half.
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) September 26, 2020
Boneheaded penalties were costly both on the field and off the field, as two in the Steelers secondary faced hefty fines by the NFL this week.
According to Joe Rutter of Trib Live, cornerback Mike Hilton and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick were both penalized for personal foul calls that occurred in the second half versus the Denver Broncos.
On a third-and-6 play, Fitzpatrick was fined $11,619 for a horse-collar tackle on Broncos tight end Noah Fant. The personal foul gave Denver a fresh set of downs at Pittsburgh’s 4-yard line. Amazingly, the Steelers defense managed to keep Denver out of the end zone, but a successful field goal brought the score to 17-6.
The Steelers have the third-most pass interference penalties in league with five.
The very next drive, on 2nd and 10 in Pittsburgh territory, Hilton was called for roughing-the-passer on Jeff Driskel. The move cost the Steelers 15 yards and an automatic first down, and Hilton $15,000. It also led to a 17-14 score when Denver’s drive culminated in a touchdown and two-point conversion.
Ten penalties for 89 yards were called on the Steelers; a couple was phantom — on both teams. Either way, that’s just too many and something with which the team needs to be more disciplined.
While the unnecessary penalties on critical downs gave the Broncos life, thankfully, it didn’t win them the game.
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One year ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers made a blockbuster trade that brought their defense back to life.
The Steelers defense played terribly in early 2019. They allowed 640 passing yards and surrendered 61 points to the opposition in the first two weeks. While Devin Bush and Mark Barron recovered two fumbles, the turnover ratio was nothing compared to what was coming.
Enter: Minkah Fitzpatrick.
One year ago, in an un-Steeler like move, Pittsburgh made a bold statement in the form of a trade with the Miami Dolphins. They sent a 2020 first and fifth-round to Miami in exchange for Fitzpatrick and a fourth-rounder (guard Kevin Dotson).
As a result of the blockbuster trade, the Steelers still have a sixth-rounder in 2021, and the Dolphins a seventh.
TRADE: Steelers are trading a 2020 first-round pick to the Dolphins for DB Minkah Fitzpatrick, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 17, 2019
Early on, there were questions about whether Pittsburgh gave up too much. They were 0-2 when they acquired Fitzpatrick and didn’t get their first win until Week 4. Initially, it appeared the Steelers might be parting with a high first-round draft pick. As it turned out at the season’s end, it was No. 18.
In hindsight, Pittsburgh easily won that trade — especially considering all the big names traded for first-rounders this summer.
Upon Fitzpatrick’s arrival, the defense came to life. Despite having just landed in Pittsburgh days earlier, he made immediate contributions in the Steelers Week 3 matchup versus the undefeated San Fransisco 49ers. Minkah picked off Jimmy Garoppolo, forced a fumble, and notched four tackles.
The week after he twice intercepted his former team, Fitzpatrick took an interception 96 yards for the second-longest pick-six in franchise history.
Minkah Fitzpatrick with the second longest pick 6 in @steelers history! pic.twitter.com/NOihawaOUj
— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) November 3, 2019
By the end of the season, Fitzpatrick ranked fourth in the league with five interceptions (two for touchdowns) and third with 130 interception return yards. Four of those interceptions came at Heinz Field. He logged 43 tackles and two forced fumbles. Of Minkah’s three fumble recoveries, two were taken a total of 79 yards, and one went for a score.
The All-Pro joined T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward as Steelers defensive reps in the 2020 Pro Bowl.
While we await Fitz’s 2020 highlight reel, here are his 2019 highlights compiled by the Steelers for your viewing pleasure.
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Daily Fantasy: The one Steelers player you need to start in Week 1 on Draft Kings
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The 2020 NFL season is upon us and that means fans and experts alike will be closely watching their favorites players stat lines for fantasy football. The Pittsburgh Steelers open up on the road against an NFC East bottom-feeder, the New York Giants.
The Giants went 3-13 in 2019, leading to a coaching change that saw Joe Judge go from a special teams/wide receiver coach for the Patriots to earning New York’s most appealing head coaching job.
With the regular season set to kick on Thursday night, the Steelers vaunted defense is the one unit that is must start in DraftKings and daily fantasy this week.
Pittsburgh has the 6th ranked D/ST in DraftKing’s fantasy football rankings and the Steelers are coming off a campaign in which they were second in fantasy points per game last season, utilizing a ferocious pass rush and talented secondary that played off the charts after the arrival of Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Steelers led the NFL in sacks and takeaways last year and face the Giants’ second-year signal-caller Daniel Jones, who just so happen to lead the NFL with 23 giveaways in 2019, good for second in the NFL.
With a mostly virtual offseason because of the pandemic, the Giants will look for rhythm in an offense that’ll be looking to gain coherency on the fly, a definite advantage for a Steelers defense that returns just about every integral piece from last season, including one of the top passers in all of football in Ben Roethlisberger.
If the Steelers offense can muster points and a ball-control offense, it could force the Giants to become one dimensional, straying away from Saquon Barkley, while leaning more on Daniel Jones.
If Pittsburgh can make the Giants one-dimensional that will create more opportunities for turnovers and the Steelers thrive off such a scenario.
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The Steelers All-Pro safety discussed safeties that he would like to emulate.
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Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has been watching the enemy.
When prompted as to what safeties he admires, studies and would like to emulate, Fitzpatrick first mentioned former Ravens safety, Ed Reed.
“Ed Reed was a guy I really liked,” Fitzpatrick said to the media on Monday. “This offseason I broke down a lot of his film. He was an athlete, but also was an intellectual when it came to the game. He did a lot of things to bait quarterbacks. He did a lot of things to learn the game, and with that, he was able to make plays that a normal safety wouldn’t be able to make.”
Fitzpatrick also mentioned retired Eagle Brian Dawkins and current Lion Glover Quinn.
All offseason, Fitzpatrick has been giving props to Reed and Dawkins. But he hasn’t forgotten about Troy Polamalu (who we know is the best of them all).
In a recent Steelers Nation Unite Huddle, Fitzpatrick said he grew up watching the likes of the All-Pro safeties.
The New Jersey native grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan and admired Dawkins’s on-field presence. “I love watching Dawkins play football,” Fitzpatrick confessed. “He was just a ballhawk. He flew around the field all the time.”
“Obviously, the other legends, Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed,” he added. “You just saw them making plays week-to-week. I was like, ‘I want to be doing what they’re doing one day’. Those are guys that, even to this day, I study and watch their film and listen to them whenever they speak about football because they just have so much knowledge of the game.”
Each had their phenomenal careers, which rightfully earned them spots in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Defensive backs will revere Polamalu’s career for generations. He was like a pinball flying around on the field and posted 32 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles, 12 sacks and 783 tackles (56 for loss) and 12 QB hits in 12 seasons.
We’re all too familiar with Reed and what he brought to the field every game. He corralled a jaw-dropping 64 interceptions along with 11 forced fumbles, six sacks, 646 tackles (34 for loss), and two QB hits over 13 seasons.
Dawkins amassed 37 interceptions, 36 forced fumbles, 26 sacks, 17 QB hits and 1,147 tackles (59 for loss) in a career that spanned 16 years.
In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Dawkins spoke highly of Fitzpatrick.
“I always called myself a freelance safety,” Dawkins told Bleacher Report. “That’s why I love guys who have that ability to be a chess piece. Checkers, you can only move from one slot to the next. Certain chess pieces can move across the board. You can use them in so many different ways. So when you think about Mink? Chess piece. All-day long, he’s a chess piece — if you have a coordinator who understands that.”
Polamalu, Reed and Dawkins are three of the best safeties ever to play the game. As far as players to emulate and desire to live up to, that trio of Hall of Famers is as good as you get.
All stats are courtesy of Pro Football Reference
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We are 39 days from Alabama football kicking off its season on the road against the Missouri Tigers to start a 10-game, SEC only schedule.
There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding college football over the last couple of weeks, but as of right now, the season still looks like it’s a go for the SEC, ACC and Big 12.
So, what does that mean? It means that we can continue the Countdown to Kickoff en route to the Crimson Tide — and the rest of the SEC — getting things underway on Sept. 26.
With it now being Aug. 18, we are officially 39 days away from the start!
Sophomore Carson Ware, a walk-on defensive back out of Muscle Shoals (Ala.), currently wears the No. 39 for Alabama.
In addition, former Tide defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, who wore the No. 29 during his time in Tuscaloosa, now wears the number for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who traded for him last season. But he isn’t the only one.
Another former Alabama cornerback turned safety, Eddie Jackson, also rocks the number for the Chicago Bears, who drafted him in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Stay tuned for more updates from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire network!
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What might Dolphins’ roster look like without major trades last fall?
The Miami Dolphins’ journey to the here and now has been quite the experience. Miami isn’t necessarily out of the woods yet, either. The team has added a good deal of talent across the roster over the course of the past season but all of those additions won’t mean much until the wins start to come. And while Miami has done well to build things back up, part of the rebuilding process was tearing things down, as well.
Even after the initial storm of roster departures in the spring of 2019, two big trades loom as monumental pieces of the Dolphins’ rebuilding effort that could have possibly changed where the Dolphins have ended up today. Those are, of course, the trades of OT Laremy Tunsil and DB Minkah Fitzpatrick. But now that we’re approximately one year removed from the fallout of both deals, we can turn our eyes back and begin to speculate what might have been different had those two players been kept? How different would the roster (and the salary cap) look?
For starters, Miami finished the 2019 season at 5-11. With Tunsil and a bought in Fitzpatrick, Miami adds probably their best player on either side of the football versus what the team actually had to work with. How do you measure that in wins and losses? It is hard to say. But we can, just for the sake of this exercise, assuming Miami wins more with two very good additions — one on each side of the ball. The low-hanging fruit is to say that Miami picks up wins in their two one-point losses last season — one to Washington and the other the the Jets in December. That would put the Dolphins at 7-9 on the season; an equal mark to where the team finished the year prior under Adam Gase.
And while a two win improvement sure sounds nice, let’s look at the fallout this would cause. Miami would hold only one first-round pick and two second-round picks in this past April’s NFL Draft, losing out on two first round picks and seeing their only other 1st-round pick tumble down the draft order — based on their adjusted strength of schedule after adjusting for wins over Washington and New York, Miami would have been slated to pick at No. 11 and the team’s first 2nd-round pick would have been scheduled at No. 48 instead of 39.
Let’s assume Miami still targets a quarterback — they’re not getting Tua Tagovailoa without trading up from 11 to get in front of the Chargers, who now pick at No. 5. So Miami is probably coming home with Jordan Love or Justin Herbert as their next franchise passer, instead and would be lucky to nail down Robert Hunt at the same pick in the 2nd-round. In reality, Miami’s offseason was such a big win because they got their quarterback of choice without giving up assets and were able to double down on cheap rookie talent at key spots early in the draft between Austin Jackson, Hunt, Noah Igbinoghene and Raekwon Davis.
Had Miami kept Tunsil and Fitzpatrick, we’d be looking at clearly better options at left tackle and free safety but either a presumed downgrade at quarterback OR having to pay handsomely to pull the New York Giants out of pick No. 4 or the Detroit Lions out of pick No. 3 to land Tagovailoa (and no extra picks in 2021, either).
Oh, right — and the Dolphins would have presumably paid Laremy Tunsil a contract extension by now. The Texans ponied up for Tunsil and paid him a new contract that averages over $22M per season. Paying Tunsil versus what the team is paying Austin Jackson would leave Miami with somewhere around $5M in salary cap space versus the $24M the team currently holds — plus would push the Dolphins’ 2021 salary cap higher amid the prospect of a reduced 2021 salary cap amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With roughly $19M less in carryover for 2021 and an additional $18-20M in commitments in 2021 for Tunsil versus Jackson, the Dolphins would absolutely feel the cap squeeze in 2021 versus having a projected $28-30M in cap space next year AFTER the cap reduction to $175M.
So, to sum it up, everything happens for a reason. For Miami, the prospect of trading Tunsil and Fitzpatrick last fall was a tough pill to swallow. But, given the shift in financials and draft assets that would have taken place had Miami kept both players, you could very easily argue that the Dolphins are in a much greater spot moving forward. Here is a summary of some of the outcomes:
TRADE TUNSIL & FITZPATRICK
KEEP TUNSIL & FITZPATRICK, TRADE UP FOR TAGOVAILOA
KEEP TUNSIL & FITZPATRICK, NO TAGOVAILOA
We’ll let you be the judge of which outcome you’d prefer.