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A20 SPORTS
Wednesday 30 OctOber 2019
Steelers overcome slow start, drop winless Dolphins 27-14

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mason lier this month against Bal- over any opponent in more
Rudolph heard the boos. timore, and James Conner than a year.
They were impossible to added 145 yards and a Pittsburgh's first possession
miss as the minutes passed, touchdown on the ground ended with Rudolph throw-
the mistakes piled up and as Pittsburgh (3-4) won ing a pick to Xavien How-
the Pittsburgh Steelers consecutive games for the ard — back in the lineup af-
found themselves down first time since ripping off six ter missing two games with
two scores on Monday straight in the middle of last a knee injury — and its sec-
night to arguably the worst season. ond ended with Rudolph
team in the NFL. "You dig a big of a whole misfiring badly on fourth
Turnovers. Dropped passes. there in the first half and I down. Yet he remained
Penalties. Missed opportu- was proud of the way we upbeat amid the grow-
nities. For the better part responded," Rudolph said. ing pains and eventually
of 30 minutes, it was hard Rudolph stressed he wasn't things started to click. Ru-
to tell if the Steelers or the Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner (30) rushes for worried about the long- dolph completed 20 of 36
a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game
Miami Dolphins were the against the Miami Dolphins in Pittsburgh, Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. term effects of a frighten- passes, including a 45-yard
team in the midst of a mas- Associated Press ing concussion he suffered touchdown to rookie Dion-
sive rebuild. against Baltimore on Oct. tae Johnson late in the sec-
"I would have booed that dolph found his footing. tively ended the competi- 6, when he was knocked ond quarter and a 26-yard
performance too," Rudolph Eventually, the Dolphins tive portion of their season cold on a helmet-to-hel- strike to JuJu Smith-Schuster
said. "Coming out slow and morphed back into the by rallying for a 27-14 vic- met hit by Ravens safety in the third quarter that put
it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. team playing for a shot at tory. Earl Thomas. Still, he looked the Steelers firmly in control.
There's a standard here the top pick in the draft. Rudolph threw for 251 yards shaky at best during an "We needed to get him go-
and we weren't meeting it And eventually the Steelers and two touchdowns in ugly opening quarter that ing early on because all it
at the time." avoided an embarrassing his first start after getting saw the Dolphins grab their takes is that one big play
Eventually, however, Ru- loss that would have effec- knocked unconscious ear- first two-touchdown lead for him," Pittsburgh wide re-
ceiver James Washington
said. "His mind is going. He's
got that adrenaline go-
ing and (once) we started
moving the ball down the
field running and passing,
we were on."
And the Dolphins (0-7) were
not.
Ryan Fitzpatrick passed for
190 yards with two touch-
downs and two picks, both
to Steelers safety Minkah
Fitzpatrick, who orches-
trated a trade from Miami
to Pittsburgh last month.
But a rare hot start couldn't
prevent Miami from stay-
ing winless through seven
games for the first time
since 2011. The Dolphins
have dropped 10 straight
dating to last season.
"We just have to continue
to keep fighting," Ryan Fitz-
patrick 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 ev-
ery single day."
CURIOUS CALL
The Dolphins, in the midst
of an exhaustive rebuild
under first-year coach Bri-
an Flores — a process that
included trading running
back Kenyan Drake to Ari-
zona on Monday for a con-
ditional sixth-round pick in
next year's draft just hours
before kickoff — showed
their first extended signs of
life in an already lost sea-
son. q