The Steelers take on the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football at Acrisure Stadium.
It will be a reunion for several players, with Steelers Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith coming to Pittsburgh from Miami this offseason, and Minkah Fitzpatrick going from Pittsburgh to Miami.
That has made for conversation in Miami this week, as the Dolphins weighed in on Ramsey, Aaron Rodgers and more.
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Quarterback Tua Tagovaiola on facing his former teammate, Jalen Ramsey:
"We all know Jalen is a very aggressive player. That's sort of Jalen's mindset as well, but we're not just playing against Ramsey, we're playing against the entire defense, but he adds a big piece to that defense, for sure."
Tagovaiola on if the familiarity with Ramsey helps with his tendencies:
"Well, I think it's hard when you're trying to look at tendencies from when he was here, because schematically, we didn't have him at safety really. We'd move him around to nickel then he'd be at corner and that's 'J. Rams,' (Jalen Ramsey) that's what he does. Outside of that, he plays the position, he plays safety the way he plays corner – he's just aggressive."
Running back De'Von Achane on going against Ramsey:
"He was here with us and we know him and he knows us, so we know he's going to be out there talking and that's going to be fun. It's stuff like that you look forward to. They're a great team and we're going to bring our best and I'm pretty sure they're going to bring their best."
Tagovaiola on if he thinks this game will be special for former Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick:
"I think that's a question for Minkah, honestly. Minkah hasn't mentioned any of that. For me personally, knowing Minkah from Alabama, I haven't known him to be a person of, 'I, I,' or 'Me, me,' so I think that's a question for Mink."
Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on returning to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers:
"The only reason why it's a big week this week is because we've got a game and we've got to win it."
Coach Mike McDaniel on Coach Mike Tomlin:
"Twenty years of over .500 football play. That's been the scope of my career is being able to inspire a group of individuals to come together and win more than they lose. I think that within that, there's a lot of pride in the organization and the team. I think guys play physically every year regardless of what the nameplates are, and they find a way to play sound football and they become pretty hard to beat.
"I think that's by and large what the last two decades have taught us. I expect nothing short of that this game, and we're going to have to put a good work week together to go battle that team to try to get in the victory column, I know that for sure. I've played them multiple times and it's always been that same story; you have to go earn a win, it will not be handed to you."
Tagovaiola on playing in the cold in Pittsburgh:
"It's football. That's what it is. We've got to go play them in Pittsburgh whether it's -20 (degrees), whether it's 20 degrees, we've got to go play football."
Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver on the Steelers offense:
"They have a Hall of Famer at quarterback, they have some dynamic players at skill positions, D.K. Metcalf is a matchup issue. I think they have two really good backs with the (Jaylen) Warren kid and (Kenneth) Gainwell, so you've got to make sure you're on your p's and q's. You've got to do everything you can to try to bottle up the run game, which they're going to put out big people and try to knock you off the ball and intimidate you that way, and eliminate the space in the pass game, just knowing that there isn't a disguise that this quarterback hasn't seen, but you've got to do everything you can to try to change the picture on him as much as you can as often as you can and not be predictable in that. It's about winning the game within the game when you're playing against Aaron Rodgers."
Tagovaiola on quarterback Aaron Rodgers and what he is doing in his 40s:
"Dude, I mean now we got Philip Rivers back. That's dope. Bro, that's dope. These are guys that I used to freaking watch when I was young, young. Now that Philip gets an opportunity to come back, that's super cool and then 'A. Rod,' I mean everyone knows he can still throw it. He can still sling it, whether he's on the opposite 40 throwing it to the back left side pylon, you know he's still got it. I've got a lot of respect for him."
Linebacker Chop Robinson on playing in Pittsburgh since he played at Penn State:
"I'm excited. It's definitely close to home, close to where I played college football so it's just another opportunity for us to go out there and showcase who we've been and just take it one game at a time. I'm excited to be especially at Pittsburgh's stadium, I know there's a lot of history and everything like that so I'm excited to be out there."
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