The Pittsburgh Steelers have no business losing to the New York Jets, in safety Minkah Fitzpatrick’s mind, and yet they did on Sunday.

The Jets have had one winning record in the previous 11 seasons, while the Steelers haven’t finished with a losing mark since the 2003 campaign. And Fitzpatrick said Pittsburgh remains better than New York in 2022, even though the Jets beat the Steelers 24-20 on Sunday to improve to 2-2 while dropping the Pittsburgh to 1-3.

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“It’s frustrating losing to people that you know you’re better and more talented than, especially when we have the team that we have,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re a great team. We have a lot of talent, a lot of great young players. I think we’re way better than what we’ve been performing or putting on display.”

Then why did Pittsburgh lose?

“It’s just winning the weighted downs, the necessary downs,” Fitzpatrick said. “We lost way too many third downs in the fourth quarter, in the third quarter. We gave up too many big plays. We’re playing very unlike ourselves.”

The Jets scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to overcome the Steelers’ 20-10 lead. In quarterback Zach Wilson’s season debut, New York reached the end zone on a 10-play, 81-yard drive and a 10-play, 65-yard series. The Jets’ offense went 3-for-4 on third-down conversions in the fourth quarter, and on its one failure, New York converted on fourth down.

“They adapted to our game plan,” Fitzpatrick said. “They started throwing the passes outside the numbers, away from the robber, which I was playing. He gets paid, too. He’s an NFL quarterback. He’s going to make great throws. But when they adapt, we got to adapt.”

Pittsburgh still almost held on. New York running back Breece Hall scored the winning touchdown with 16 seconds to play. Fitzpatrick knocked the football away from Hall as he reached the end zone, and the play was initially ruled a fumble. But video review showed Hall had gotten the ball to the goal line before Fitzpatrick’s play.

Earlier during the Jets’ game-winning march, Fitzpatrick had gotten hurt and briefly left the field.

On Tuesday, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Fitzpatrick has a knee injury that puts the former Alabama All-American’s availability for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills in question.

“Minkah has a knee that needs to be managed,” Tomlin said, “and we’ll watch him progress throughout the week.”

Fitzpatrick has 32 tackles and three interceptions in four games this season. In Pittsburgh’s only 2022 victory, Fitzpatrick returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown in a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the season-opener. On Sunday, he returned an interception 34 yards to the New York 4-yard line to set up the Steelers’ first touchdown.

Tomlin also announced that rookie Kenny Pickett would start at quarterback against Buffalo, taking over from Mitch Trubisky, who had started the first four games under center.

Pickett ran for two touchdowns and completed 10-of-13 passes after replacing Trubisky in the second half against the Jets. But Pickett’s three incompletions also were interceptions.

“We really got to play defense,” Fitzpatrick said. “Who’s out there on the other side, it don’t matter to me. We just got to do our job.”

The Steelers and Bills square off at noon CDT Sunday at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.