On Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick voiced his frustrations with the current state of the officiating in the NFL after a very questionable flag came his way in a key moment.
In the third quarter of Sunday’s matchup between the Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts, Fitzpatrick was called for an unnecessary roughness call that set up the Colts with great field position.
The call was certainly a questionable one, as Fitzpatrick appeared to avoid any contact with the head of Colts wide receiver Adonai Mitchell.
This was called unnecessary roughness on minkah fitzpatrick going full speed lmaoo nfl is so soft pic.twitter.com/oLVGSx662D
— John (@iam_johnw) September 29, 2024
The Colts would go on to score later on in this possession and come away with a 27-24 victory, which seemingly may not have been the case if not for this call.
As you may expect, Fitzpatrick was not all that happy with the call. After the game, he aired his grievances with the officials both in Sunday’s game and as a whole around the NFL, sharing his opinion that the sport is now officiated drastically differently from when he first entered the league.
“I mean, I thought we were playing football,” said Fitzpatrick. “I don’t know what we’re playing at this point. Very different game than what I grew up playing and what I grew up loving. Can’t hit nobody hard. Can’t be violent. So I don’t know, I don’t know what to say anymore.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick on his personal foul penalty
“I thought we were playing football …. This is not the game I grew up playing… you can’t hit anybody.” pic.twitter.com/wgaxCUoQeX
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 29, 2024
Simply put, it is hard for defenders like Fitzpatrick to play at a high level while also having to simultaneously worry about not being flagged for hitting someone hard.
So it’s quite easy to understand why Fitzpatrick is so upset with the current state of officiating.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.