PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Minkah Fitzpatrick feels bad for Browns tailback Nick Chubb, loves competing against him. He makes the game better. It was unfortunate and he hopes he has a speedy recovery, but Fitzpatrick says it wasn’t a dirty tackle.
“I know people think I had ill will behind the tackle, that’s not the case whatsoever,” Fitzpatrick said Thursday. “I’m a guy that as a competitor is going to play the game. I’m chippy and edgy of course, but I’m not a dirty player. I’m not going to sit here and defend my character.”
“There is no way I would ever try to purposely try to injure somebody. It was an unfortunate event. We play a physical game and people get hurt. People can sit behind a screen and tell me what they would have done, they never played the game.”
Fitzpatrick said he talked to Chubb briefly after the play on the field to tell him it wasn’t intentional. He also said for anyone who things you should go at Chubb high, never tried to tackle him. Minkah described the play as he saw it.
“It opened up and I didn’t see anyone on him,” Fitzpatrick said. “I made the decision as soon as I saw the hole open up with 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 decisions are made in milliseconds. You can’t really control what happens after you choose to make your decision. I already chose to go low. Somebody got on his back, as I was going low, and what happened, happened. There is nothing I would do differently.”