Tag: Minkah Fitzpatrick

6 former Miami Dolphins thankful to be playing elsewhere in 2019

The Miami Dolphins have experienced quite a bit of turnover, which of their former players is most thankful to call somewhere else home?

The Miami Dolphins have experienced a great deal of turnover in recent years. Just from 2016, Miami has fallen off from a 10-6 playoff run to one of the least talented teams in the NFL. That was, of course, an executive decision. Moving on from so many pieces of the existing roster was done with the “bandaid” method in mind — if Miami was going to successfully overhaul their roster, they needed to cast out the pieces who weren’t going to be a part of the future quickly, in order to maximize their assets.

But not every play shed off that 2016 roster departed as a part of the great roster purge of 2019.

Here are the five former Miami Dolphins from opening day of 2016 thankful to be playing elsewhere across the league.

OL Billy Turner, Green Bay Packers

Turner was abruptly cut by Adam Gase and company in October of 2016 after a brutal showing. In a classic case of Dolphins irony, Turner has actually played quite well in life after Miami. He went on to start 11 games for the Denver Broncos in 2018 and has served as a starter in every single game for the Green Bay Packers after signing a 4-year, $28M contract with Green Bay this spring in free agency.

The Packers are 8-3.

WR Jarvis Landry, Cleveland Browns

Ah, yes. Landry has spoken at length about how it hurt to be dealt elsewhere in the league after thinking he’d spend his entire career in Miami. How’s that working out for the Dolphins? Landry gouged Miami this past week in his first game against his former team for 10 receptions, 148 yards and 2 touchdowns. Landry is on pace for 86 receptions for 1,226 yards and 7 touchdowns this season, his second with the Browns.

Cleveland is 5-6, 1 game out of the wildcard.

QB Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans

The Dolphins’ most polarizing player in recent memory. In hindsight, it seems as though both factions were right: Ryan Tannehill can be really good if you surround him with the right supporting cast — but he wasn’t “the guy” to lead Miami back to relevancy. Tannehill was traded to Tennessee for a 4th round pick this spring and has promptly gone 4-1 as the starter in Tennessee. He’s Pro Football Focus’ 5th highest scored quarterback since taking over.

The Titans are 6-5 with two games left to play against the division leading Houston Texans.

OT Laremy Tunsil, Houston Texans

Tunsil was reportedly quite upset with the deal that sent him to Houston, but this will likely turn into a win for all sides when it is all said and done. Miami can get creative with the assets they were given for Tunsil and avoids paying out a big money contract that would be something they’d have to work around for years to come.

Tunsil? He gets to block for one of the best young quarterbacks in football in Deshaun Watson and compete for championships.

Houston is 7-4.

DL Jordan Phillips, Buffalo Bills

This one hurts. Phillips was cut by Miami because Adam Gase was butting heads with him. Phillips has promptly headed north to Buffalo and is playing very good football for the Bills. And the Dolphins always seem to get his best effort.

The Bills are 8-3.

S Minkah Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Steelers

You already know Fitzpatrick is pumped to be playing in Pittsburgh, considering how he strong-armed his way out of South Florida this season. Fitzpatrick, renowned for his versatility, suddenly took exception to being played in a slew of roles when the Dolphins were getting blown out — and here we are. Players who can’t buy in to Brian Flores’ culture are probably better off elsewhere anyway, but the gift of hindsight may not look back on this decision favorably if Fitzpatrick continues to roll up the turnovers for the Steelers.

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Steelers have 2 of the top non-QB MVP candidates

The Steelers have multiple MVP candidates on their defense.

When pundits talk about MVP candidates, the headlines are always dominated by the quarterbacks. 2019 is no different as Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson leads the way. But there are several non-quarterbacks who deserve serious consideration and according to ESPN, some are on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They ranked their five best non-quarterback MVP candidates and two of them are Steelers.

ESPN’s top candidate is outside linebacker T.J. Watt. Watt has been downright dominant this season with 10.5 sacks, nine tackles for loss, 33 total tackles, an interception and four forced fumbles. Watt simply takes over games for long stretches and makes the players around him better.

But he’s not the only Steeler who matches this description Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has been remarkable since the Steelers traded for him after Week Two. Fitzpatrick slid into the free safety role for the Steelers and has become a turnover machine. He has five interceptions and six total takeaways in just eight games and has scored two defensive touchdowns.

We all recognize Watt and Fitzpatrick won’t be in any serious conversation for MVP with the top quarterbacks doing their thing. But of the two, which one would you consider a more viable candidate at this point?

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Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick fined for taunting vs Rams

The NFL didn’t appreciate what Minkah Fitzpatrick did on the way to the end zone against the Rams.

According to NFL reporter Tom Pelissero, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was fined $10,527 for taunting the Los Angeles Rams as he jogged in for a touchdown two games ago.

Fitzpatrick scooped up a fumble forced by defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and scampered into the end zone. On the way to the end zone, Fitzpatrick looked back and waved to the Rams defenders in pursuit. This didn’t draw a flag by the officials at the moment but when the league reviewed the play felt like Fitzpatrick took things too far.

Alabama Football: Week 10 “NFL Freaks Of The Week”

NFL Freaks of the Week is a weekly poll on the Alabama football twitter account

The “NFL Freaks of the Week” is a weekly poll on the Alabama football twitter account, that lets fans vote for an NFL offensive and defensive freak of the week from the previous week’s matchups. 

Last week, Josh Jacobs and Minkah Fitzpatrick were the Freaks of the week.

Let’s see who the fans voted for this week! 

Offensively, these were the four candidates twitter got to vote on:

Amari Cooper | 11 catches, 147 yds, TD

Josh Jacobs | 16 rushes, 71 yds, TD, 3 catches, 30 yds

O.J. Howard | 4 catches, 47 yds, TD

Derrick Henry | 23 rushes, 188 yds, 2 TDs

WINNER: Derrick Henry with 71% of the votes

And defensively, these were the four candidates that Twitter got to vote on:

Mark Barron | 10 tackles, PBU

Dalvin Tomlinson | 9 tackles, sack

Rashaan Evans | 7 tackles, 1 sack, FR for TD (53 yds)

Minkah Fitzpatrick | 4 tackles, 2 PBU, INT, FR for TD (43 yds)

WINNER: Minkah Fitzpatrick with 82% of the votes

Which week 10 “freak” were you most impressed with?

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Ball security at a premium against the Steelers defense

The Steelers have at least 3 takeaways in 5 consecutive games

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Looking for a reason why the Pittsburgh Steelers have won four games in a row and surged into the AFC’s No. 6 seed even though Ben Roethlisberger has been on injured reserve since Week 3? The answer is easy.

Takeaways.

Pittsburgh’s defense has been masterful at getting the ball back from opposing offenses. The Steelers have 26 takeaways in nine games, one behind league-leading New England. That includes an NFL-high 12 fumble recoveries. Pittsburgh has at least three takeaways in each of its last five games.

One of the big keys is Minkah Fitzpatrick. Trading their 2020 first-round pick to Miami for the versatile defensive back has proven eminently worthy. Fitzpatrick has five takeaways of his own in the last three weeks, scoring two touchdowns on returns. He’s exactly what the doctor ordered for coordinator Keith Butler’s defense.

Cleveland’s own ball security has dramatically improved since the bye week. Sure, there were the three consecutive snaps in the loss to New England where the Browns infamously gave the ball away. Those are the only three giveaways in the three weeks since the break.

Baker Mayfield has thrown just one interception, the botched shovel pass to Jarvis Landry in the Patriots game, in his last 111 pass attempts. Mayfield remains No. 2 on the season with 12 picks thrown, but he’s been much better at not putting the ball at risk of late. His receivers haven’t volleyball set the ball to a defender in weeks, too.

 

9 things to know about the Bills’ Week 11 opponent, the Dolphins

The Bills and Dolphins will complete their 2019 pair of games on Sunday in Week 11 from South Florida. These aren’t your father’s Dolphins, and they’re not your Dolphins from like a few weeks ago when Buffalo topped Miami in 31-21. Things have …

The Bills and Dolphins will complete their 2019 pair of games on Sunday in Week 11 from South Florida.

These aren’t your father’s Dolphins, and they’re not your Dolphins from like a few weeks ago when Buffalo topped Miami in 31-21. Things have changed in three short games since then.

With that, here are nine things to know about the Bills’ Week 1 opponent, the Dolphins:

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores meet following the game at New Era Field. Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Red hot Dolphins

The Bills were huge 15.5 opening favorites against the Dolphins in their first meeting. Buffalo took a 31-21 win and didn’t cover that. Actually it was nearly just a three-point win had it not been for a goofy onside kick score from Micah Hyde late.

But since then, it’s been smooth sailing for the Dolphins. After topping the New York Jets for their first win of the season, 26-18, Miami beat the Colts last week 16-12.

Yes, the tanking Dolphins are on a winning streak. Buffalo is still the favorite, but hey, if they’re hot, they’re hot. Along with their winning streak, the Dolphins have led in four-straight games as well, dating back to that loss in Buffalo.

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Check out the best photos of Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick

The Steelers got themselves a real star with Minkah Fitzpatrick.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick the team was 0-2 and the season was on the ropes. But thanks to his addition the Steelers defense is playing as well as any in the NFL and he is a legitimate candidate for defensive player of the year. In just seven games with the Steelers, he’s turned himself in a truly elite player.

Here are some of the best shots of Fitzpatrick from his first season with the Steelers.

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Steelers Wire discussion forum: Will Minkah Fitzpatrick be defensive player of the year?

Let us know your thoughts on whether or not Minkah Fitzpatrick is a candidate for defensive player of the year.

Despite the fact the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the second game of the season, the Steelers front office decided to mortgage their 2020 first-round pick for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. At the time the move was met with mixed results considering the cost with many calling the price too high.

But nine games into the season the Steelers defense is among the best in the league and Fitzpatrick is a frontrunner for defensive player of the year.

Fitzpatrick’s skillset has allowed defensive coordinator Keith Butler tremendous freedom with his front seven knowing he has No. 39 patrolling the back end. On the season, Fitzpatrick has five interceptions — best in the NFL —- as well as two fumble recoveries and two defensive touchdowns.

But his impact spills over into every aspect of the defense, in particular, deep coverage. In the first two games of the season, the Steelers back to their old ways with shaky deep passing defense. But the presence of Fitzpatrick has turned the Steelers into playoff contenders.

In the final analysis, it is hard to see any player being more impactful to a team than Fitzpatrick is to Pittsburgh. And his play has quieted any concerns about who won or lost that trade.

We pose the question to you: Will Minkah Fitzpatrick be the defensive player of the year? Share your thoughts and join the discussion at the Steelers Wire Forum.

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Week 11 EPA Power Rankings: Cowboys knocked from top-offense perch

Cowboys force-feed Zeke in Week 10 despite data showing he isn’t near the most effective backs in the NFL this year.

The NFL was full of upsets this week.  Heading into Monday Night Football, seven underdogs had come away with a victory, including the Cowboys loss to the Vikings, the Titans over the Chiefs, and the Falcons taking down the Saints.  It was only fitting that it should end with another one as the Seahawks took down the previously unbeaten 49ers in an overtime thriller.

That being said, this single week’s games weren’t enough to change much in each team’s Expected Points Differential.

Expected Points, the foundation of many analytical arguments, uses data from previous NFL seasons to determine how many points a team is likely to come away with on a given play based on down, distance, time remaining, and field position. The difference in expected points at the start of a play and expected points at the end is referred to as expected points added, or EPA.

A play with a positive EPA means it put the offense in a better position to score, while negative EPA implies the offense is in a worse position.

Note: There was a bug within the program that scrapes all the NFL play-by-play data that affected the EPA on plays with challenges, which has since been fixed.  There was some slight movement in team EPA totals because of this, but nothing too major.

The top two teams stayed put this week despite San Francisco going home with a loss.

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott performed better than either QB from these teams, netting a total of 24 EPA across 47 plays, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a rough day on the ground for Ezekiel Elliott.  The underlying numbers for Dallas, however, still make them look far better than their 5-4 record suggests.

Pittsburgh and Oakland were the biggest climbers this week, moving up five and four spots, respectively.  The Steelers’ offense isn’t very inspiring with Mason Rudolph at the helm, but their defense ranks third in the NFL in total EPA allowed, trailing only New England and San Francisco.  Rookie linebacker Devin Bush has proven he was worth the trade-up, while in-season acquisition Minkah Fitzpatrick has picked off more passes than anyone in the NFL since moving up north from Miami.

We’ve got a new leader in total offensive EPA this week, as Lamar Jackson’s huge day put him in the top spot this week among offensive players.  Jackson’s 1.14 EPA/play more than doubled the amount of second-place Prescott (0.51 EPA/play).  Yes, the Bengals are bad, but nobody else has done that to them this season.  The next best performance against Cincinnati was Jimmy Garoppolo’s 0.66 EPA/play way back in Week 2.

Lamar Jackson has been an above average passer, ranking seventh in raw EPA/pass, but it’s his rushing success that has catapulted him to stardom.  Jackson now has started 16 games in his career, and if they were all in one season, he’d break Michael Vick’s single-season rushing yards record for quarterbacks.  He’s playing like 2013 Colin Kaepernick, if Kaepernick doubled his rushing yards and completed about 10% more of his passes.

Moving away from quarterbacks, let’s take a look at how running backs are doing in 2019 with their carries.  A few weeks ago, I found that teams are seeing more rushing success to the outside than they have been in the past decade, with the exception of short yardage situations.  With the help of NFL’s Next Gen Stats and Pro Football Focus, we can zoom in a bit more on specific running back performance.

What jumps out to me here is the 49ers stable of running backs.  Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida, and Tevin Coleman are all seeing above average loaded box counts, and yet Mostert and Breida are first and fourth in yards per carry.  Coleman, who sees more loaded boxes than anyone but Frank Gore, is still league average in YPC.

We can glean a better measure of effectiveness of the run game by using EPA/carry in this same fashion.

Coleman surpasses his teammates here even with the lower yards per carry mark because he’s seeing more work in short yardage situations.  Coleman has seen the 10th highest percentage of his carries in short yardage situations (3 or fewer yards to go) as well as the fourth highest touchdown percentage in the league.  Touchdowns and first downs are generally the biggest positive EPA plays, so it’s no wonder he looks better here.

Christian McCaffrey and Dalvin Cook both appear near the top here, as expected, but the surprise might be that they are joined by Aaron Jones and the duo of Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards.  Ingram is the leader in EPA/carry this year despite seeing more 8+ man box counts than either McCaffrey or Cook.  The threat of Lamar Jackson keeping the football on any given play coupled with a scheme that might even see Robert Griffin III receive a pitch is proving to be enough to run over anyone, even when they are prepared to stop the run.

On the other side of things, last year’s top performers (Ezekiel Elliott, Saquon Barkley, Alvin Kamara, and Todd Gurley) are all seeing below average loaded box counts and still only producing at a near average rate.  Elliott has been the best of this bunch so far, even with his tough day last weekend.

If we really want to break down running back performance, we need to look for places a running back can separate himself from his team’s coaching decisions and run blocking performance.  For that, let’s take a look at Pro Football Focus’ yards after contact.

It appears that the 49ers backs are helped more by scheme than by running backs breaking tackles.  The best back by this measure is Seattle’s Chris Carson, who is gaining more yards after contact than anyone in the league, and yet is still below average by EPA.  This is a good reminder that EPA evaluations are often indicative more of team performance rather than individual performance, especially when we’re looking at rushing.

The Ravens and the 49ers are great reminders that rushing can be effective in the modern NFL, and the situations in which teams choose to run the ball tend to have a larger impact on rushing success than the specific ball carrier.

Elliott can be an effective piece for the Cowboys offense, but it’s crucial they continue to focus his efforts on the ground against lighter boxes, which he’s seeing more than the average back in 2019.  His yards after contact is only just above league average, while his quarterback happens to be one of the most efficient in the league.  Let’s hope Dallas only feeds Elliott in optimum situations going forward, because when the light boxes are there, he can eat.

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Does Minkah Fitzpatrick have a case for DPOY?

Minkah Fitzpatrick has had an interesting welcome into the NFL, but it doesn’t seem to have stopped him from playing his best football yet. After being drafted by the Miami Dolphins with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, it had looked …

Minkah Fitzpatrick has had an interesting welcome into the NFL, but it doesn’t seem to have stopped him from playing his best football yet.

After being drafted by the Miami Dolphins with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, it had looked like Fitzpatrick was poised to be the lead man in the team’s secondary.

Instead, he was bounced around three different positions, and was unable to solidify himself as a large contributor because of this.

When the Alabama product requested a trade early on in the 2019 regular season, the Dolphins granted his wish – it also helped that they were looking to build up draft stock in preparation for the 2020 NFL Draft.

A trade was made with Pittsburgh after Week 2, and thus, the breakout year had begun.

In his seven weeks as a Steeler, it’s been hard to not find Fitzpatrick’s name in a headline.

He’s made flashy plays and crucial plays in the black and yellow, almost as if he wanted to show the Dolphins’ front office ‘what could have been.’

So far in 2019, Fitzpatrick, with both teams, has accumulated five interceptions, two defensive touchdowns, eight pass deflections, two fumble recoveries and 45 total tackles.

This stat line is not only impressive for a second-year player that struggled with his original team, but for any defensive back in the pros.

If he is able to continue making big plays that positively affect his team, and keep his name in the headlines – for positive, on-the-field, reasons – he could enter the 2020 season as the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

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