Steelers overcome 14-point deficit to defeat winless Dolphins

After an unexpected start to their Monday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers heard an unfamiliar sound cascade down from the Heinz Field seats.

Boos.

For most of the first half, the Steelers played like they weren’t ready for their 15-day layoff between games to end. Then, they awakened in time to avoid perhaps the most embarrassing loss of the Mike Tomlin era, coming back from a 14-point deficit to defeat the winless Miami Dolphins, 27-14.

Mason Rudolph shook off a sluggish start in his first game post-concussion to pass for 251 yards while throwing long touchdown passes to Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Schuster as the Steelers scored 27 points in the final 32 minutes, 45 seconds to improve to 3-4.

“Hey, I would have booed that performance, too,” said Rudolph, who completed only one of his first seven attempts and threw an interception that led to an early 7-0 deficit. “Coming out slow … it’s Pittsburgh Steelers, there’s a standard here and we weren’t meeting it at the time.”

The Steelers accomplished a series of firsts, including a two-game winning streak for the first time since November 2018. James Conner rushed for a season-high 145 yards and a touchdown before leaving with a late shoulder injury. Smith-Schuster also had his first 100-yard receiving game on five catches for 103 yards that included a 26-yard touchdown, and Johnson, the rookie third-rounder, had a career-high 84 yards on five receptions that featured a 45-yard score late in the first half.

Minkah Fitzpatrick tormented his former team with a pair of interceptions that led to Steelers touchdowns. The Steelers finished with four turnovers, also recovering a pair of fumbles.

“When your backs are against the wall and you dig yourself a 14-0 hole and come back the way we did, I was really proud of the group and proud of the way we responded as an offense,” said Rudolph, who completed 20 of 36 attempts.

Conner had a single-game high of 55 rushing yards coming in, but he benefited from the return of fullback Roosevelt Nix from a five-game absence. With Nix and tackle Zach Banner serving as extra blockers in the jumbo package, Conner averaged 6.3 yards per carry.

“Rosie’s presence was significant,” Tomlin said. “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.”

On paper, the game had the makings of a classic mismatch: a team that never loses at home on Monday nights – 17 in a row for the Steelers heading into the game – and favored by two touchdowns facing a team that hasn’t won at all this season.

And it played out in lopsided fashion in the first quarter – just not in the way anyone predicted. The Dolphins were the team armed with 14-0 advantage thanks to a pair of Ryan Fitzpatrick touchdown passes.

“It’s always tough to get out of football for that amount of time and come back,” guard David DeCastro said. “Little rusty, shake it off, but I thought we did a good job of getting off quick, and the defense held up the bargain like they have all year.”

The Steelers scored 10 points in the final 2:45 of the first half, and they pulled ahead, 17-14, with 3:16 left in the third quarter on Rudolph’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Smith-Schuster.

The touchdown capped a 12-play, 97-yard drive that ran 7:47. And it came courtesy of Minkah Fitzpatrick’s second interception against his former team.

Rudolph was 6 of 7 for 80 yards on the drive. On the touchdown, Smith-Schuster outleaped cornerback Chris Lammons for the ball, pulling it in with his right arm before getting both hands on it as he landed in the end zone.

In the previous game, Smith-Schuster had one catch for seven yards.

“You’ve got to feed him no matter what,” Rudolph said. “He’s proven to be a force down the field with those combat-catch situations. We knew we wanted to be more aggressive as an offense.”

On the ensuing possession, Tomlin won his first replay challenge in two-plus seasons, and it helped overturn a first down by Ryan Fitzpatrick on a fourth-and-1 run. It gave the Steelers the ball on their 47 with 0:18 left in the third quarter.

The Steelers commemorated the occasion by driving 53 yards for a touchdown, Conner scoring on a 9-yard run to provide a 24-14 lead with 12:01 remaining.

Chris Boswell added a 40-yard field goal with 5:32 left after a T.J. Watt strip sack gave the Steelers the ball at the Dolphins 22.

At the outset, little went right for Rudolph, who was playing for the first time since sustaining his concussion 22 days earlier against Baltimore. He completed 1 of 6 attempts with an interception in the first quarter for a 0.00 passer rating. He would throw another incompletion early in the second quarter before hitting his stride.

Tomlin agreed that the long layoff was a factor for Rudolph.

“Not only for him, but for all of us,” he said. “There is always that angst when you’re coming off a bye week and warming up to the action. I thought we could have started faster.”

Boswell’s 42-yard field goal with 2:45 left before halftime represented some positive vibes for the Steelers.

Minkah Fitzpatrick’s first interception of the game gave the Steelers the ball back at midfield with 1:13 left. After an offensive pass interference call on Johnson cost the Steelers a 34-yard gain to the 1, they faced a third-and-20 at the Dolphins 45.

The Dolphins blitzed eight defenders. Smith-Schuster drew extra coverage, leaving Johnson open across the middle. Johnson ran unimpeded toward the end zone, cutting toward the left sideline before James Washington threw a crushing block that sprung Johnson for the touchdown. The score with 17 seconds left before intermission gave the Steelers some much-needed momentum that they carried through the second half.

After a 1-4 start, the Steelers have a chance to be .500 if they can defeat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

“We just gotta keep climbing,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said. “(Being) 3-4 just gives us a chance to go to 4-4, and then we get to .500 and see what happens. But it’s not guaranteed.”