Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick missed seven games in the 2023 season. The Steelers posted a 6-1 record in those games.

That included victories in the final three games of the regular season to nab a postseason position, even though the formerly No. 3 quarterback was in the starting lineup.

“We asked a lot of people,” Fitzpatrick told Teresa Varley for Pittsburgh’s official website. “It’s a telltale sign of the type of team we are. We are a scrappy team that will fight no matter what. We have a lot of selfless dudes who will do a lot of things on and off the field to help. It was no surprise.”

Fitzpatrick credits coach Mike Tomlin for the team’s success with a three-time All-Pro defensive back and the starting quarterback out of the lineup.

“Football is a crazy game,” Tomlin said. “Last year, we had some crazy circumstances. It’s a telltale sign of who we are, the type of team Coach T has built, the type of culture Coach T has built. We continue to fight no matter what the circumstances. It’s a culture that is hard-nosed. You have a job to do. Get it done no matter how you have to do it.”

READ TERESA VARLEY’S ‘FITZPATRICK EMBRACED WHAT THE SEASON BROUGHT’

In his first five NFL seasons, Fitzpatrick missed three games. In 2023, Fitzpatrick missed four November games with a hamstring injury and the final three regular-season games with a knee injury before making it back to the field for the playoffs.

Fitzpatrick said he attempted to “embrace” his sidelined situation and learn from observing the things he had missed while dealing with his on-the-field concerns.

“I tried to really stay engaged, not in a sense of being vocal or constantly communicating, but being where my feet are,” Fitzpatrick said. “Paying attention to what is going on around me. Paying attention to the little things. Paying attention to what people in the locker room, in this building say, what they are saying, what they are communicating. Whether it’s subtly or in your face, I was trying to take heed of everything that was going on and trying to correct some things that were being talked about. I had the necessary conversations.

“The reason I recognized I needed to work on it was because I had the opportunity to be still and really see what was going on. When you are in the mix of it, you are game-planning and scheming, you can lose sight of all the little details, or you become nose blind to what is going on around you. The fact that I had time to be aware of what was going on is something I want to implement more. I want to make time to be where my feet are. Listen to more of what is going on in the locker room. Listen to what is going on upstairs. It’s something I want to apply moving forward.”

RELATED: MINKAH FITZPATRICK: ‘A GOOD MAN IS A DEAD MAN’

Fitzpatrick will be back with Pittsburgh in 2024 for the second season of a four-year, $73.612 million contract extension.

At Alabama, Fitzpatrick was a two-time consensus All-American. He won the Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive player and the Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back for the Crimson Tide’s CFP national-championship team in 2017.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

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