Recently-traded former Pittsburgh Steelers star Minkah Fitzpatrick was not the culprit of the team’s constant miscommunication at the end of the 2024 season, linebacker Patrick Queen said on X.
When asked if Fitzpatrick was traded because he was the cause of the issues in the back-end of the defense late last season, Queen responded with ‘no.’
The entire theory came about when players seemingly took subtle shots in their post-game press conferences at players who were messing up the communication calls.
One notable comment came from safety DeShon Elliott, who railed against the play of his teammates following the team’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“First off, guys can’t be [expletive] wide open. That’s the first thing. Just do your job,” Elliott said. “I thought we were communicating, [but] guys weren’t doing their frickin’ job.”
Queen himself said after the game that he could not explain it, and even though the players had kept talking about it, the same issues popped up.
“Can’t explain it, it’s happening. We keep talking about it. Nobody is doing a thing about it. If nobody does anything about what they are supposed to be doing then we don’t have any room for it,” Queen said. ”I don’t know if we have to keep saying it. We have said it the last two or three weeks. It is at a point where you realize it and go out there and play fast and play physical and do your job."
It was not Fitzpatrick, though, who was seemingly the player some teammates were calling out. Cam Heyward commented similarly to the others above, which only festered the narrative.
“When 10 guys do their job and one guy doesn’t, we are screwed,” Heyward said. “it’s brutal.”
The issues continued to pop up through the Steelers’ final two games, too, and this offseason, it was a massive focus for the Steelers. With the trade of Fitzpatrick, they hope the changes can be a charge toward their secondary being fixed once and for all.
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