Every day during practice, as the special teams units take the field for their portion of the sessions, Minkah Fitzpatrick heads over to the other field with the Steelers quarterbacks.
The quarterbacks practice certain throws. Fitzpatrick serves as their receiver, catching dozens of balls each time.
He's constantly working on his hands, trying to better his game.
That's why the Steelers aren't concerned that the two-time All-Pro free safety has yet to get an interception this season. They feel Fitzpatrick, who had nine interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries for the Steelers in his first 30 games with the team after being acquired in an early-season trade with the Dolphins in 2019, will come.
The team and Fitzpatrick are preaching patience.
"It’s a real challenge because their expectations are probably more than ours," defensive backs coach Teryl Austin said Wednesday of trying to convince Fitzpatrick of that.
"The type of plays that he makes, the turnovers, the interceptions, he’s had a couple that have hit him in the hands this year that he normally catches. So I’m sure that’s frustrating to him, and you see him out here working, catching with the quarterbacks, catching off the machine and doing those things to get better. But it will come. You’ve been around it long enough, those guys that prepare like he does, the balls will start falling for him."
They haven't yet. Fitzpatrick has a forced fumble this season and leads the Steelers with 47 tackles. But he has yet to haul in an interception. It's been 12 games since his last interception, the longest drought of his career. He had an 11-game interception-less streak with the Steelers at the end of the 2019 season and over the first four games of 2020, and also went nine games without a pick as a rookie with the Dolphins. He had two interceptions in 2018 with the Dolphins and four last season despite his slow start.
So, it's not unusual. And the Steelers feel the turnovers are coming.
"It’s quiet in terms in turnovers, but he does a lot more for us in terms of what he does on the back end and getting everyone lined up and direction," Austin said. "I know it’s probably not what he wants and we’re all expecting more in terms of turnovers and that stuff, but it’s going to come. A guy like him, who’s a really good player, those things might go through a drought, but he’s a really good player and the turnovers will come."
What the Steelers can't have is everyone else not get any, either. They have two interceptions this season, one coming from strong safety Terrell Edmunds, a player not known for producing turnovers in bunches.
The rest of the secondary -- and defense -- has been shut out so far as the team went 3-3 in its first six games heading into its bye this weekend.
That has to change moving forward. The Steelers also can't have the high number of missed tackles they had in last week's 23-20 overtime win over the Seahawks.
Fitzpatrick, who had been credited with just four missed tackles in the team's first five games, had three, as did Edmunds, giving him five for the season. Inside linebackers Devin Bush and Joe Schobert had one each. Even T.J. Watt, who was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the game, had one as the Seahawks ran for 110 yards in the third quarter on their way to 144 yards on the ground in the game.
They seemed to be contagious -- at least in that one quarter.
But they've also not been a season-long issue.
"I think everybody says, 'Well, they’re pros,' and all that stuff," defensive coordinator Keith Butler said of the missed tackles. "Yeah, they’re pros, but you still need fundamentals. You still need to practice fundamentals all the time. You can’t just exit those and go to something else and stuff like that. You’ve got to pay attention to that, especially in an off week for us. The great thing about this off week is we won it. If we were 2-4, it wouldn’t be good. But we won and we’re 3-3. The thing we’ve got to do is maintain the level we’re at and make sure that we can dadgum compete to get more points. We’ve got to do that. We’ve got to be able to do that."
That is Austin's focus, especially for his room and the safeties in particular. They're often the last line of defense. If they're missing tackles, bad things happen.
"We don’t gloss past the problems and think they’re going to disappear," Austin said. "We always address things that show up, things that may show up later. We addressed it. Obviously, we’re not tackling our own guys, so it’s my job to put together some drills that will put them closer, put them in better position so we can make those tackles. It’s never a function of toughness, because you can’t play DB in this league and not be able to tackle. We’ve got to do some things, and I’ll do some things in drills to make them feel more comfortable in the open field around people to get them on the ground, because we’ve got to do better.
"I don’t think we’re a poor tackling secondary. We’re going to tackle. That’s something we’ll get back to. We’ve just got to make sure we emphasize it."
That and getting the ball out.
And that starts with Fitzpatrick, the team's backbone on the back of its defense.
Early in the season, the Steelers were using Fitzpatrick more as a chess piece, moving him up and playing him in the slot while they figured out who their nickel and dime corners would be.
But the team has grown more comfortable using Arthur Maulet and rookie Tre Norwood in some of those roles. And that's allowed Fitzpatrick to settle back in at his usual free safety position.
That should manifest itself in more big plays moving forward.
"We had him at nickel. We had him at dime. Now, we’ve let him settle in because some of the other guys have come along, and so that really allows him to hone in on his position," Austin said. "I have no problem with Minkah Fitzpatrick and the value he brings to our team."