Jets veteran safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has returned 4 interceptions for TDs across his nine-year NFL career. Last Sunday at Chicago, after pilfering a pass from Bears QB Tyson Bagent and seeing open space stretched out in front of him at Soldier Field, he had points on his mind.
"Anytime you get the ball in the hands as a DB, I think your mindset is to score," Fitzpatrick told team reporter Eric Allen. "Or at least to get as many yards for the offense as possible. Because it's not just about getting the turnover, because if you get a turnover on the 4-yard line, you're really putting your offense in a not great position. It's awesome that you took points off the board, but you also want to put the offense in the best possible position.
"So, obviously the best result is a pick-six. But if you can't get that you try and get as many yards as you can to put the offense in an even more advantageous position." The INT led to an early Jets field goal.
Fitzpatrick did exactly that in his first game back after sustaining a groin injury early in the Jets' Week 1 victory at Tennessee. His 27-yard INT return was his longest with an INT since a Week 4 game at Pittsburgh in 2002 when he returned a Zach Wilson pass 34 yards in the Jets' 24-20 victory over the Steelers.
"The quarterback [Bagent] was just staring me down a little bit, and I think even if he threw up the pass, I was going to get to the ball," Fitzpatrick said. "But he threw it a little bit behind him [TE Colston Loveland], and as soon as I saw the ball released, I knew I was going to get to it before the receiver."
As the Jets (1-3) return home from two games on the road to face the Cleveland Browns (3-1) on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Fitzpatrick, a native of Old Bridge, NJ, is returning for a home game minutes from where he starred as a wide receiver and defensive back in high school for St. Peter's Prep of Jersey City. And like athletes in so many sports, he discovered that being a destroyer on defense fit more with his personality than trying to be a creator on offense.
"I always loved playing offense, but I more so gravitated toward defense, even when I was in little league, when I was making plays on offense," he said. "But I love just making a big hit or an interception."
He had ample opportunity to make those hits against the Bears, whose offense monopolized the ball last week, running 89 plays. He made 16 defensive tackles (10 in the first half), not only the most in the game, but the most in a game in his 126-game career (and the most by a Jets player in almost 30 years). In addition to Fitzpatrick's play, Dane Belton, his counterpart at safety, had 14. And if that's not enough, Fitzpatrick played 5 snaps on special teams, Belton 4. Two other Jets -- CB Azareye'h Thomas and LB Demario Davis -- also played 100% of the snaps on defense.
"He's not surprised me at -- all in a good way," Fitzpatrick said, referring to Belton. He added: "He's a really, really intelligent guy. There's not a lot that he hasn't seen, so he's not really ever on his heels. He has a very aggressive demeanor when it comes to tackling [No. 3 on the team with 30], and he has a nose for the football as well. He just hasn't had an opportunity to put that on display yet, but you know he's definitely a guy that I really enjoy playing with."
Along with Davis and DT Harrison Phillips, Fitzpatrick is one of the three of the Green & White's captains on defense. It's a job he takes seriously and "it means a lot."
"I don't really consider myself the most hoorah type of guy, but I do consider myself a leader by the way I do things on a daily basis, the way I go out there and compete," he said. "I think guys can get behind that. I think my teammates see me as a leader, but it was cool to be acknowledged as a captain."
