Earlier in the summer, Steelers strong safety Minkah Fitzpatrick talked about getting back to playing what he called, "Minkah ball."
By that, Fitzpatrick means being an impactful player on the back end of the Steelers defense, one who takes the ball away from the opposing team on a regular basis.
Fitzpatrick is playing well this season, to be sure. The Steelers aren't allowing any explosive plays and the defense has given up just 26 points through three games.
But Fitzpatrick's last interception came Jan. 1, 2023 in a 16-13 win over the Ravens.
The strong safety starting next to him that day? Terrell Edmunds.
Edmunds spent the 2023 season with the Eagles over the first portion of the season before being traded to the Tennessee Titans. And Fitzpatrick failed to force a turnover in the 2023 season.
In fact, of Fitzpatrick's 17 interceptions, three forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in a Steelers' uniform since he was acquired via trade in 2019, all but one have come with Edmunds suited up that day.
The lone outlier is an interception Fitzpatrick had against the Raiders in 2022 when Edmunds missed the game because of injury.
Fitzpatrick missed seven games because of injury last season and was not involved in a turnover in the 10 games in which he played. He also hasn't been involved in any of the Steelers' five forced turnovers in the first three weeks of this season, meaning he's gone 14 games in which he's played without a turnover.
"I'm not going to talk any junk to him," said Edmunds, re-signed by the Steelers three weeks ago after his release in the preseason by the Jaguars. "It's rare (for Fitzpatrick not to be involved in turnovers), but teams avoid him. That's the biggest thing. He'll put himself in that position. I know he works hard, studies hard."
That could change this week against the Colts.
Indianapolis second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson is last among NFL starters completing just 49.3 percent of his passes. He's already had six passes intercepted and, according to Pro Football Focus, is second in the NFL with seven turnover-worthy throws.
But Richardson also leads the NFL in air yards per pass, as well, at 12.6 yards per attempt and 17.8 percent of his throws have been deep.
That's Fitzpatrick's realm.
"Our front has to be really good and solid versus the run," said Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. "We can keep (Fitzpatrick) back there to defend those big balls. It's going to be a big challenge for us."
Richardson will complete some of those deep throws. He has 191 passing yards on completions on his deep shots. And he can sling the ball deep downfield, trusting his arm and his receivers to run under the ball.
Wide receiver Alec Pierce leads the NFL in yards per catch at 25.0 and Colts pass catchers as a group average 16.1 yards per reception.
"He's just an avatar of an athlete," said Austin of Richardson. "And then obviously when you are talking about him running, he has the ability to -- even as he's moving a little bit off balance -- to uncork a bomb. And so that's always dangerous.
"So the thing we obviously preach with our guys is to make sure that they don't relax at any time versus this guy. He has enough ability to avoid rushes, create some pace, and then also get the ball down the field."
Edmunds has been inactive in each of his first two games since returning to the Steelers. But maybe this could be the week for Edmunds to finally be part of the game day roster, especially with Nick Herbig, who leads the Steelers in special teams snaps with 61, starting this week in place of injured Alex Highsmith.
If Herbig is limited in his special teams availability, Edmunds might be a good replacement on those units.
"He's good. TE has always been good," said Austin. "Always been an early meeting guy coming in, so that helps him reacclimate to our environment and everything.
"So he's doing a good job and I think he's kind of got his feet back under him in terms of what we're doing here and how we're doing it. So I would hope that we'll probably see him sooner than later."
And perhaps that would give Fitzpatrick a chance to revive his streak of forcing turnovers when Edmunds is in uniform.
"It would be crazy if the first time I get a helmet, he goes out and catches one or two picks," said Edmunds. "I hope he does, because that will hype him up. I hope so."
One area that Fitzpatrick has been active in is getting opposing players on the ground.
Per Pro Football Focus, he has been the NFL's most sure-handed tackler thus far this season, with 15 tackles on 15 attempts. Considering Fitzpatrick often is asked to get opponents on the ground in space, that's extremely good.
But it's nothing new. Fitzpatrick has missed less than 10 percent of his tackles in each of the previous two seasons, as well.
• Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt enters Sunday's game with the Colts with a sack in each of the team's first three games this season.
In his career, he's averaged .93 sacks per game played, meaning there's a good chance he adds at least one more to his sack total for the season in this game. That would push Watt, who currently has 99.5 career sacks in 107 games, over 100 for his career and make him the second-fastest player in NFL history to reach 100.
Only Reggie White did it faster.
The difference between the two – other than the obvious fact Watt is an outside linebacker and White a defensive lineman – is that White had already played two seasons in the USFL for the Memphis Showboats. In 36 career games with Memphis, White had 23.5 sacks, a good number but not the more than a sack per game that he averaged in his first seven NFL seasons when he reached 100 in 96 games.
White entered the NFL at 24, while Watt entered at 23.
So, if we throw out Watt's rookie season, when he recorded seven sacks in 15 games, he has 92.5 sacks in 92 games, which would have given him a shot at topping White for the fastest defensive player in league history to reach 100 in his career.
Could Watt get 7.5 sacks in his next four games to at least match White? It would be difficult. But it wouldn't be impossible.
This is not to degenerate White or say that Watt is as good. It's just to point out that White had something of a running start into the NFL. Certainly, he would have been good in the NFL as a 22-year-old rookie. But by the time he reached the NFL in 1985, he was a full-grown man who had two years of professional coaching to help him hone his craft.
Watt was good as a rookie, but he wasn't quite the impact player he became in his second season at 24, when he recorded 13 sacks in 16 games.
• If Watt gets his sack on Sunday, he'll become just the third player in NFL history to reach 100 sacks before his 30th birthday.
White had 108 by his 30th birthday. Jared Allen had 105.
Watt turns 30 on Oct. 11. That means he has two more games with which to get that done, Sunday's game against the Colts and a Week 5 game against the Cowboys.
Watt turns 30 just two days before the Steelers' Week 6 game at Las Vegas.
At 3-0 are the Steelers guaranteed to make the playoffs?
Well, not exactly. But things look pretty good.
The Steelers have now started 3-0 in a season 10 times in their history. In eight of the previous nine times the Steelers have started a season 3-0, they've advanced to the postseason. The only time they didn't advance to the postseason came in 1936.
How long ago was that? Well, it happened to be the first season the NFL held a draft of college players. And only two of the league's nine teams – the winners of the Eastern and Western conferences – played for the NFL Championship.
Now, there are 32 teams and 14 advance to the postseason.
Since 1990, teams that open the season 3-0 advance to the postseason just over 75 percent of the time.
Also, if the Steelers can win at Indianapolis Sunday, it will mark just the seventh time in team history the team has won its first three road games. It also did so in 2020, 2010, 2005, 1983, 1978 and 1975.
The 2020 and 1983 Steelers are the only teams of that group that did not at least advance to the Super Bowl. But all six won their respective division titles.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
• The Steelers are averaging just 2.8 yards per rushing attempt on first down. But on second down, they are picking up 4.7 yards per carry.
And while averaging less than three yards per carry on first down isn't ideal, the thing that makes it tenable is that the Steelers also aren't getting dropped for many losses.
Steelers running backs have just six rushing attempts this season on which they've been caught behind the line of scrimmage. Last season, that number was 45.
Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith also isn't afraid to run the ball on second down, even if the first down attempt didn't work.
"We believe in what we're about and the way we work," Smith said.
That commitment to running the ball has consistently put quarterback Justin Fields in third-and-manageable.
For most NFL teams, second-and-7 or longer is a passing down. The Steelers aren't afraid to run the ball again.
The Steelers also have confidence that if they don't pick up a first down, their defense is going to do the job and get the ball back. That helps with that commitment to running the ball.
And those things play hand in hand.
"When you're built like we are and you're really – as this thing keeps going, you're talking about keeping the defense fresh too," Smith said. "When you have a dominant defense, you know, usually you average around 65 snaps a game."
