Pittsburgh Steelers came back after a slow start to beat the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football, 27-14. The hosts struggled in the first period, especially on offense, but all that was later taken care of.
However, the first 15 minutes were terrible for all the home team fans, who booed their players at certain moments. According to Mason Rudolph, he and his teammates deserved all that.
“I would have booed that performance too,” Rudolph said. “Coming out slow, and it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers. There’s a standard here, and we weren’t meeting it at the time.”
He threw an interception on his second play of the night. The Dolphins used that gift to deliver a touchdown. Ryan Fitzpatrick found Albert Wilson for a 5-yard pass, which led to the first touchdown of the game.
On the next possession, the Steelers went for fourth-and-6, failing to convert it, and giving the football to the rivals again. Miami scored, again. This time Fitzpatrick hit Allen Hurns for 12 yards and the 14-point lead of the guests.
This shocking turn of development at the Heinz Field stadium surely wasn’t expected, and if it weren’t for the late second-quarter push of the home team, who knows what would happen.
First, Chris Boswell made a 42-yard field goal. After that, Minkah Fitzpatrick, the former Dolphin traded to Pittsburgh this season, brought the much-needed momentum shift. He picked up Ryan Fitzpatrick’s pass and allowed the Steelers to have the last possession. With 17 seconds to go, Diontae Johnson scored a touchdown, following Rudolph’s 45-yard pass.
It was a massive boost of morale for the home team, who was suddenly close. They wouldn’t let this positive wave until the end of the game.
Boswell did miss the field goal on the first drive in the second half, but that didn’t slow down the home team. Especially their defensive unit.
Just 20 seconds later, Steelers’ Fitzpatrick got his second interception of the night. It seems that he still remembers all the routes of his former teammates, and he exploited that memory very well. His pick was at Pittsburgh’s 3-yard line. Mason Rudolph took it over from there and led his team to a new touchdown. The drive had 12 plays, lasted for 7:47, and was 97 yards long. It concluded with Rudoph tossing a 26-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster, who scored.
“His mind is going. He’s got that adrenaline going and (once) we started moving the ball down the field running and passing, we were on,” Steelers’ WR James Washington said about Rudolph.
Until the end of the contest, James Conner added one more TD. The prolific running back had 145 rushing yards on 23 carries.
Rudolph threw for 251 yards, 20 for 36, for 2 touchdowns and one interception. Smith-Schuster recorded 103 yards on five catches.
On the other side, Ryan Fitzpatrick had 190 yards, 21 of 34, for 2 picks and 2 touchdown tosses. Fitzmagic was sacked four times and had two fumbles.
“We just have to continue to keep fighting,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s just kind of the place that we’re at right now. Just continue to keep fighting, continue to keep going to practice, and trying to get better every single day.”
Dolphins play with the Jets next week at home. The Steelers host the Indianapolis Colts.
