Steely McBeam
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- Mar 20, 2019
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The Steelers Defense got a big boost from the trade for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick early last season and the unit’s play was the chief reason why the team was able to hang onto the fringes of the playoff chase until the final weeks of the regular season.
Fitzpatrick remains on hand for the 2020 campaign and he doesn’t think the defense’s momentum will be halted by the lack of an in-person offseason program. Fitzpatrick thinks the team’s chemistry has benefitted from “learning about each other and how each other think and life outside of football” and that their on-field continuity will be an edge over some other teams.
“We have some young faces and new faces, [but] some teams, half their roster, half their secondary or half their linebackers are gone,” Fitzpatrick said, via the Associated Press. “[A shortened preseason] will definitely give us an advantage because we all have a year [together] under our belt or more than that. I think it’s more of an advantage.”
Fitzpatrick has company among those who think continuity will be a leg up once teams are on the field this year and that would be a welcome development for a Steelers team that hasn’t made the playoffs in a couple of years.