Mike's Beer Bar War Room: Minkah's absence could be catastrophic

On Sunday against Jacksonville, the Steelers lost Minkah Fitzpatrick, far and away the best safety on the planet right now, to injury after just eight snaps of play. Replacing him is impossible. Yet, the Steelers are going to have to figure out a way to do it.

A very strong argument can be made that Fitzpatrick is the worst player for this team to lose. That includes the starting quarterback, Kenny Pickett (who was also lost to injury in this game), any other offensive player, and yes, even the great T.J. Watt. 

Fitzpatrick means more to the Steelers than Watt? Maybe. Why you ask? Because the Steelers are loaded at Watt’s position, and their secondary is very bad. And, Fitzpatrick puts out fires. They've been popping up all over the Steelers secondary, and it's been happening all year long. 

So, what does the coaching staff ask of Fitzpatrick? My hunch is it goes something like this: 

• "Hey Minkah, our slot cornerback has no chance against their slot receiver, can you take care of that and put out that fire?"

• "Hey Minkah, our outside cornerback has no chance against their No. 1 wide receiver, can you help him over the top and put out that fire?"

•  "Hey Minkah, we have no answer against their dangerous receiving tight end, can you take care of that and put out that fire?"

•  "Hey Minkah, we are struggling to stop the run and make plays near the line of scrimmage, can you take care of that and put out that fire?"

You get it.

Here is a great example of Fitzpatrick shading towards one side of the field or towards a specific receiver. He jumps this Joe Burrow pass with great suddenness and isn’t touched as he strolls into the end zone. Not only does Fitzpatrick take the ball away, but he usually does something very good with the ball in his hands. 

Fitzpatrick has logged 403 snaps this season. Here is where the Steelers have had him align: 172 at free safety, 118 in the slot, 85 in the box, 17 at outside cornerback and 11 along the defensive line. Few safeties are asked to do so much and change what is asked of them on the fly ... when a fire pops up. 

We also know that there isn’t a better player as a deep middle centerfielder than Fitzpatrick. And you know what? Every opposing offensive coordinator and quarterback knows it and they stay away from Fitzpatrick. The Steelers opponents fear Fitzpatrick, as they should. 

Fitzpatrick has good size and physicality. He moves very well in a straight line or changing directions. But, what separates Fitzpatrick is his head for the game, competitiveness and his off-the-charts football IQ. 

Fitzpatrick has a great sense of timing. And he doesn’t lack one bit for physicality. Here, Fitzpatrick dislodges the football while staying well within the rules. He’s a tremendous competitor. 

Although the numbers don’t back this up, Fitzpatrick is having the best season of a career that could land this soon to be 27-year-old in the Hall of Fame someday. That isn’t an exaggeration. Fitzpatrick is on a Hall of Fame pace. But, you say that Fitzpatrick, who has 19 career interceptions in 86 career games, has yet to pick off the opposing quarterback yet this season. He hasn’t forced or recovered a fumble. He hasn’t sacked a quarterback either this season. Heck, Pro Football Focus has him with a very ordinary 64.9 grade-for whatever that is worth. 

But, Fitzpatrick has put out countless fires. 

Sticking in the same game for all of Fitzpatrick’s highlights, here he screams off the edge to block a field goal -- one that would have sent the Steelers packing back to Pittsburgh with a loss. Fitzpatrick wasn’t having any of that. Also, there is a knack for blocking kicks with great anticipation and burst to the target, both of which Fitzpatrick exudes. This game in Cincinnati was just one of many in Fitzpatrick’s tremendous career.  

Again, it was only eight snaps against Jacksonville, but those early indications showed that the Steelers planned on using Fitzpatrick quite a bit on Christian Kirk. Kirk is predominantly a slot receiver, but also was Trevor Lawrence’s favorite receiving option coming into that game. If you recall, Evan Engram began gaining yardage at will in the second half of Sunday’s game. 

Think the Steelers might have asked Fitzpatrick to put that fire out? Of course, they would have. This upcoming week, don’t you think Fitzpatrick would spend a great deal of time leaning DeAndre Hopkins' direction? Hopkins is a fire waiting to be set ablaze. 

The remaining safety tandem of Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal have a lot of experience playing together from their time in Dallas and Atlanta. Kazee should almost exclusively handle traditional free safety duties while Neal is the old school strong safety. That makes the Steelers more predictable on the backend of their defense and really limits their ability to use a big nickel package with three safeties on the field, something they might have preferred against Tennessee on Thursday. 

Also, to be frank, Kazee is a third safety. Neal is a third safety. Even with Fitzpatrick healthy, they have been miscast as starting complements to Fitzpatrick. In fact, it wouldn’t be a shock if (either in Pittsburgh or elsewhere) that Kazee and Neal are not considered opening day starters in 2024. Of a possible 71 defensive snaps against Jacksonville, Neal played 69, Kazee played 67, and special teams demon Miles Killebrew played 12. That is not ideal. 

The Steelers' secondary needs a great deal of work. Outside of Fitzpatrick, Joey Porter Jr., and if you really squint, possibly Cory Trice Jr. and Darius Rush (and those are serious leaps of faith at this point), everyone else in this secondary may need to be replaced and/or upgraded upon after this season. It is a great step in the right direction that Porter is now rightfully a full-time starter as an outside cornerback. 

But, that leaves a lot of fires that are absolutely needed to be put out. And the Steelers just lost their best fire fighter, hopefully for not too long.