The Pittsburgh Steelers kicked off their three-game homestand with a dramatic 27-14 win over the winless Miami Dolphins. The Steelers looked like the winless team for much of the first half, but they cranked up the intensity and now sit in second place in the AFC North.
Here are our three big takeaways from the game:
Pittsburgh won the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade
Unless the Steelers lose every game from here on out, they won the trade with the Dolphins. Pittsburgh sent their 2020 first-round pick to Miami for Fitzpatrick, and the safety has been a star on this defense. Statistically across the board, the Steelers defense is better and Fitzpatrick might be the best safety to wear a Steelers uniform since Troy Polamalu. On Monday night, Fitzpatrick had two key interceptions.
It was wise to rest Jaylen Samuels
In hindsight, it looks like a genius move for the Steelers. Starter James Conner suffered a shoulder injury late that could keep him out of the game next week against the Indianapolis Colts. Giving Samuels an extra week of rest means he should be 100 percent in case he has to be the feature running back.
The good and the bad of this game were on the players, not coaches
It is easy for the fan base to vilify the coaching staff when things aren’t going well. And there are times when scheme and playcalling are suspect. But on Monday night, when the team was struggling it had nothing to do with what the coaches were asking the players to do and more about the players not executing. Same for when things turned around. There were no sweeping changes. The players just stepped up and did their jobs.
