PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – A report came out late Saturday night that Steelers receiver Dionate Johnson and Minkah Fitzpatrick had to be separated in the locker room after the Browns game in Cleveland. What Diontae said of it, plus how the Steelers wanted it more Sunday.
Johnson was obviously frustrated, as many were, after losing 13-10 to the Browns. Fitzpatrick was inactive for the game as he recovers from a hamstring injury and last year the safety got into a practice altercation with receiver Chase Claypool. Johnson didn’t deny anything happened, just the severity of it.
“It really ain’t nothing,” Johnson said Sunday. “You all are outside looking in. That’s my brother at the end of the day. We’re passionate about the game. Everybody wants to win. So you all look at it as we had an all-out brawl or whatever. It ain’t that, so don’t get it twisted, you know what I’m saying?”
“Football players on every team talk junk to each other, so we squashed it. We won the game today. That’s all that matters.”
Johnson said what led to the better offense was the whole team getting into a flow of the game. He said the play calls were in on time with quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan assuming those duties and Eddie Faulkner as the interim offensive coordinator.
“The calls were just coming in, everybody was doing their job today,” Johnson said. “Just seeing the energy was different. We were moving the ball, playing our part, and we were able to get the job done today.”
Johnson explained further the biggest difference with the offense was execution, but they wanted to play for Faulkner. It was a motivator to be on top of their game and pull out a win for him. A couple of years ago, the Steelers quit at Cincinnati and were being clowned by the Bengals. Johnson said on Sunday, it was the Steelers who wanted it more.
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Near TD
He appeared to have his second touchdown of the year on the second drive of the game. Johnson caught the ball in the back of the end zone and took two steps, on the third step, the ball was knocked away. Former NFL official Gene Steratore said if Mike Tomlin would have challenged the call in the first half, it might have ended up being a touchdown instead of an incomplete pass.
Did Johnson think he had a touchdown?
“Yeah, but it is what it is,” Johnson said. “I had three feet in front of me, but I just got to hold on to the ball.”
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