After yet another major season-ending injury in the NFL, fingers are flying to put the blame on one thing or another regarding running back Nick Chubb. Chubb took a hard hit to the lower body from Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on Monday night, causing extensive damage to his knee. Instead of blaming Fitzpatrick for going low on the ball-carrier, James Harrison believes it’s an issue the league has created.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, the former Steelers linebacker put the onus on the NFL to fix the problem.
“You’ve made it to where if a guy goes in there and comes in high and hits him in the head, now he’s getting fined,” Harrison said. So, what do you have to do? You’ve got guys shooting low now. That’s just what you’ve done made the game into.”
Harrison stuck by Fitzpatrick despite many throwing accusations around about the hit being “dirty.”
“No, you’re trying to get him down, period. He’s not a little guy, he don’t run light, he’s trying to get him down by any means necessary, ” Harrison said.
The former linebacker’s take is very similar to Fitzpatrick’s defense, which he shared with reporters on Thursday.
Fitzpatrick responds to critics on Chubb hit
Minkah Fitzpatrick had the chance to respond to those blaming him for the season-ending injury to Browns running back Nick Chubb on Monday night.
The former Alabama star told reporters that he wouldn’t do anything differently, but that he’s also hoping for a speedy recovery for the running back.
“I would say, one: they’ve never tackled Nick Chubb before if they’re telling me to go high,” Fitzpatrick said, via James Palmer. “Two: What I seen was it opened up, it’s goal line. I didn’t see anybody on him. I made the decision as soon as I seen 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,” he added. “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.”
Another former Steelers defender, and current ESPN analyst, Ryan Clark also defended Fitzpatrick after the hit.
“If a defender goes high and a player gets concussed he’s dirty!” Clark shared on X. “If a defender goes low and a player gets a lower extremity injury he’s dirty. Where can he hit a runner then y’all? I mean sheesh. The growing softness of this game and the sensitivity of those who watch it saddens me.”
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