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Steelers storm past Dolphins after shaky start

By Jim Wexell for The 6 min read

PITTSBURGH — Mason Rudolph took a vicious hit that knocked him out of his last game, the next game, and of course the bye week. And upon his return Monday night, he was booed.

Such a nice young man, too.

“Hey, I would have booed that performance, too,” said Rudolph. “We came out slow.”

But Rudolph and the Steelers turned it around for a 27-14 win over the winless Miami Dolphins.

It didn’t look good after Rudolph’s ugly interception on the first series set the Dolphins up for the first of two early touchdowns and a 14-0 lead.

How did Rudolph turn it around?

“Plays,” said James Washington, who probably knows Rudolph better than anyone on the team. “I just know from college he’s just got to get the one big play and get the crowd into it, because he loves when the crowd’s into it with him. After one play the crowd got wild and I could just see going into the huddle – his eyes; I mean, everything. He was a totally different dude. I thought, ‘This is the dude I know right here. Let’s go.'”

The Steelers made a handful of big offensive plays that whipped the crowd’s emotions. But Washington was thinking about a simple comebacker for an 11-yard catch on third-and-8 by rookie Diontae Johnson.

“When Diontae caught that out route for the first, we got in the huddle and Mason started talking more,” Washington said. “He was louder, more aggressive with his playcalling. I’m like, ‘OK, he’s getting there. He’s getting there.’

“He kept making plays, and when JuJu caught that ball you could see it. He was ready.”

JuJu Smith-Schuster followed the conversion by Johnson with a 26-yard touchdown catch off the helmet of Dolphins cornerback Chris Lammons for a 17-14 lead, and the Steelers didn’t look back.

Rudolph agreed the conversion to Johnson was an understated, but big, play.

“Yeah, I think he’s continued to make big plays for us in big situations, on third down, got-to-have-it situations with our backs against the wall,” Rudolph said.

Johnson made an even bigger play – actually two, but only the second counted. The first was called back by offensive pass interference.

Trailing 14-3 late in the first half, Johnson was running down the sideline with Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard and engaging in what appeared to be insignificant hand fighting. Johnson got only one arm free but made the catch at the 1-yard line.

Offensive pass interference was called, reviewed and upheld. But three plays later, Johnson scored on a 45-yard catch-and-run to send the Steelers into the locker room abuzz, down only 14-10.

“God was looking out for me right there because they made a bad call,” Johnson said. “He gave me that touchdown.”

Actually, the Dolphins gave Johnson that touchdown. Handed it to him on a platter. They sent eight rushers after Rudolph on third-and-20 with 26 seconds remaining. They dropped only three into coverage, and they were well off the receivers.

The Steelers knew it was coming. They had noticed on film that when the Dolphins walk around the box area in their pre-snap disguise, they’re sending the house. So Rudolph set the protection for cover-zero, Johnson ran a one-step slant over the middle, and the Dolphins doubled Smith-Schuster and left the middle wide open. Johnson caught the pass and said “It felt like a punt return.”

He didn’t meet traffic until the goal line, but Washington plowed cornerback Nik Needham over with a brutal block to spring Johnson for the final few yards.

“I was surprised they brought the house, to be honest,” said David DeCastro. “I thought they would’ve brought three and sat back, but they obviously had different ideas.”

“Wanted to be aggressive,” explained Dolphins Coach Brian Flores. “We can second-guess a lot of calls. I’m not going to second-guess that one. I thought we had success with the call, and they made a play. But at the same time, it’s 14-10 at halftime. We had opportunities in the second half. We didn’t take advantage of them. I’m not going to sit here and say that was the play that was the detriment of the game.”

Minkah Fitzpatrick certainly was a detriment to the Dolphins. The Steelers’ free safety – acquired from the Dolphins during the third week of the season – intercepted his second pass of the game early in the third quarter at the Pittsburgh 3, from where Rudolph led the Steelers on their 97-yard go-ahead touchdown drive.

The drive was marked by a second-and-20 catch by Washington for 21 yards, Johnson’s 11-yard conversion, and the 26-yard touchdown throw to Smith-Schuster.

On their next series, the Dolphins turned the ball over on downs when Ryan Fitzpatrick was stopped short by Cam Heyward and Joe Haden on a fourth-and-1 run around right end. The Steelers began their possession at their 47 and ended it with a James Conner 9-yard touchdown run, which put them up by 24-14.

Another Boswell field goal followed the first of T.J. Watt’s two fourth-quarter strip-sacks to set the final score.

Conner, who injured his shoulder and may miss some practice time, had his first 100-yard game of the season with 145 yards on 20 carries. He was only one yard off his career high against the Cleveland Browns set exactly one year ago to the day.

“Unbelievable job,” Rudolph said of Conner. “He came out hot early and it really kind of sparked us as an offense. Coach (Mike) Tomlin has been talking all week about securing those 10-yard runs, and we need more of them. We’re making ourselves more of a complete offense, and I think we really challenged our offensive line, which had been doing great in that area all week.

“James did a good job,” Rudolph added. “He’s playing up there at the top of the competition of running backs in this league. He’s a physical guy. He really provided us with a spark today.”

“Rosie’s presence was significant,” Tomlin said of the return of fullback Rosie Nix. “It’s probably not coincidence his first game back we were able to get the run game going, and going in kind of a big way. He’s a significant component of it, but we’ve known that. It’s good to have him back out there.

Benny Snell rushed five times for 13 yards before leaving with a knee injury. Left guard Ramon Foster suffered a concussion and also left the game. Maurkice Pouncey injured his calf but returned to the game. Jaylen Samuels will be back this week to bolster the RB corps.

At 3-4, the Steelers host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The Steelers have won three of their last four games, but the momentum didn’t seem to mean much in the post-game locker room.

“We have yet to have a full, complete game,” said Watt, “but we’re definitely trending in the right direction.”

“Got a lot of work to do,” said Heyward.

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