Minkah Fitzpatrick tried to play things down all week when it came to competing against his former team, the Dolphins, on Monday night.
He tried to say it was just another game, even though he had forced his way off the Miami roster just two games into his second season with the Dolphins, just 18 months after they had used the 11th pick in the 2018 draft to acquire him.
He tried to assure everyone there were no hard feelings about asking management for a trade, which eventually happened with the Steelers sending a package of picks, including their 2020 first-round selection, to Miami.
But then Monday night's game started.
And the Dolphins started yapping at him -- especially after they grabbed a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
"They were talking about Minkah on the field, so we had to have his back," Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree said. "Yeah, they were talking about him on the field. He did a great job of responding. He did a great job of keeping his head and just playing ball. It was fun to watch. It was a great opportunity for him."
Two Fitzpatrick interceptions and 27 unanswered points later, the Steelers had a 27-14 victory, their third in the past four games, and Fitzpatrick had some new swag to put in his growing trophy case.
"I’ve got a little box that I keep all my balls in, my turnovers," Fitzpatrick said. "I’m going to put it in my trophy room."
At his home in Miami. Fitzpatrick still has a home in Miami. He still has friends there. That won't change.
But the friendships were put on hold for this game, even though he's now playing for a different team. That's what made having the first two-interception game of his professional career special -- though you wouldn't know it from talking to Fitzpatrick.
"It was my former team and my former teammates. I have all the respect in the world for them," Fitzpatrick said. "(Getting two interceptions) didn’t matter if it was this week or last week or next week."
At least that's what he was selling all last week and after this game. His new teammates, however, told a different story.
"I’d be hyped, super-hyped," corner Joe Haden told me. "But you know Mink, he’s a businessman. He goes about it like a true pro. I know he’s a competitor and he wanted to have a good game. I’m happy for him.
"Two interception games are two interception games. I’ve had one. Those are hard to come by. He had a great game."
The Steelers needed them all against the winless Dolphins (0-7).
They dug themselves an early hole, as Mason Rudolph, returning after missing a game with a concussion, struggled early. Rudolph's first pass of the game was intercepted by Xavien Howard at the Pittsburgh 26 and Miami quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick made them pay, throwing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Albert Wilson.
Rudolph continued to struggle, starting just 2 of 8, and the Steelers were forced to punt again. This time, Ryan Fitzpatrick, using a quick passing attack, took the Dolphins 63 yards for another score, this one a 12-yard TD pass to Allen Hurns for a 14-0 lead.
When Rudolph was sacked and fumbled on the Steelers' next possession, the crowd at Heinz Field had seen enough and serenaded the Steelers with boos.
"Hey, I would have booed that performance, too," Rudolph said. "We came out slow. I mean, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. There's a standard here. We weren't meeting it at the time."
The defense finally started to tighten up. Though the Dolphins got a couple of first downs on their next possession, they punted the ball back to the Steelers, who took over at their own 6.
And Rudolph hit a big 12-yard pass on third down to rookie Diontae Johnson. And James Conner kept grinding out yards -- he finished with a season-high 145 yards on 23 carries before leaving late with a shoulder injury. And Rudolph connected with JuJu Smith-Schuster down the sideline for a 34-yard gain, setting up a 42-yard Chris Boswell field goal with 2:49 remaining in the first half.
The Dolphins got the ball back looking to extend their 14-3 lead. But Minkah Fitzpatrick had other ideas.
When tight end Nick O'Leary was unable to handle a quick pass, it popped into the air and into the waiting arms of the Steelers' safety for an interception at midfield.
Even then, a pair of penalties on Johnson -- one for a false start, the other for pass interference -- had the Steelers backed up at third-and-20 from their own 45.
Miami head coach Brian Flores initially had the Dolphins set to rush three and put eight players in coverage. He called a timeout and instead called for the Dolphins to go zero-coverage with eight men coming after Rudolph.
The Steelers picked it up and with two of the remaining three defenders going with Smith-Schuster, Johnson was left all by himself on a crossing route.
"I don't have any regrets on the call," Flores said. "I think they made a play, just like we had made plays prior to that defensively."
Johnson had two defenders to beat getting into the end zone. He made the first miss. James Washington took care of the last one, pancaking him into the end zone.
"I had the first guy and I felt like I had him, but he made him miss. I saw the next guy and I had to capitalize on that one," Washington told me. "I’ll take that over a touchdown any day, helping a brother out. I loved it. That was a great feeling."
The Steelers took that great feeling into the locker room and carried it over into second half.
They missed a field goal from 54 yards -- Boswell's first miss of the season -- on the opening drive of the second half, but Minkah Fitzpatrick then did this to end Miami's last gasp at trying to keep this a game.
The Steelers took over at their own 3 and marched 97 yards to score on a 26-yard Rudolph touchdown pass to Smith-Schuster for a 17-14 lead.
"I thought our energy picked up," Cam Heyward said of the defensive effort. "Early on, we were a little flat, making careless errors. After that, we settled in. Our DBs started making plays on the ball. Minkah got those two picks and we were able to get after the quarterback late."
Sounds like a recipe for success.
At 3-4, the Steelers moved within two games of the Ravens (5-2) in the AFC North standings. They also moved within a game in the loss column in the AFC Wildcard standings.
For a team that started 0-3 after losing starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, winning three of the past four games -- and two in a row -- is a welcome feeling.
"You can’t help it but to look," Haden told me of the standings. "With our team, starting the season like we did, it’s still one game at a time. We’re still trying to chop that thing down, get to ,500, get to 4-4. Right now, it’s on to Indy. Tonight, it started out slow for us. It didn’t look good at all. Being able to get that win is good. But it was ugly at first."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE NOTES
• Smith-Schuster had five catches for 103 yards, his first 100-yard game of the season.
• The Steelers were 6 of 13 on third downs, while the Dolphins were 3 of 8.
• The Steelers rushed for a season-high 158 yards, holding the ball for 35:18.
• The Steelers outgained the Dolphins, 394-230.
• T.J. Watt had three tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble that he recovered.
• Dupree and Heyward also had sacks for the Steelers.
• The Steelers forced four turnovers in the game and now have 19 for the season, second only to the Patriots (25). The Steelers forced 15 turnovers all of last season.
• The Steelers have now won eight consecutive Monday night games.
• After allowing the Dolphins to gain 91 yards on their first two possessions, the Steelers allowed 93 yards on Miami's next seven possessions.
THE INJURIES
• Ramon Foster (concussion, did not return)
• James Conner (shoulder, did not return)
• Benny Snell (knee, did not return)
• Maurkice Pouncey (calf, returned)
THE SCHEDULE
The Steelers (3-4) host the Colts (5-2) at Heinz Field next Sunday at 1 p.m. Mike Tomlin will hold his weekly press conference at noon today to talk about that game and give any residual thoughts from Monday night's win. I'll have all the coverage.
THE COVERAGE
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MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Dolphins, Heinz Field, Oct. 28, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
