Flashback to Week 2 of last season. On Monday Night Football, Minkah Fitzpatrick went low on star Browns running back Nick Chubb to stop his momentum in the red zone. That hit ended with Chubb being carted off the field, and his season ended prematurely due to a severe knee injury. Following that, there was much public talk about Fitzpatrick being a dirty player for the hit.
Some former NFL players agreed that it was dirty, but multiple Steelers and Browns players defended Fitzpatrick. Now, Chubb, who is still recovering from the injury, talked about the hit for the first time. He would say that the hit from Fitzpatrick was not dirty at all.
“I don’t think it’s a dirty hit at all,” Chubb said. “You know, I’m not blaming him. It’s part of the game.”
Other players, such as Grant Delpit, D’Antony Bell, and Myles Garrett, chimed in during the season to state how the hit was not dirty. Minkah Fitzpatrick talked about the hit after it happened, stating that he was not trying to injure Chubb on the hit, but that it was a football play.
“I would say, one: they’ve never tackled Nick Chubb before if they’re telling me to go high,” Fitzpatrick said. “Two: What | seen was it opened up, it’s goal line. I didn’t see anybody on him. I made the decision as soon as I saw the hole open up and him in the hole to go low. You can tell me how to tackle him low, but it’s a fast game. It’s a game (where) you make decisions in milliseconds. Can’t really control what happens after you choose to make your decision. I already chose to go low. Somebody got on his back when I was going low, and what happened happened. There’s nothing I really would do differently. Again, like I said earlier, it’s very unfortunate. Nick Chubb’s a great player. He makes the game a lot better when he’s playing. Just hope for a speedy recovery.”
Fitzpatrick was not fined for the hit on Chubb. As for where Chubb is in his recovery, he is working back to complete team activities. There is still no guarantee that Chubb will be ready for Week 1, but he seems to be progressing well after a serious injury that could have resulted in career-ending effects.