Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to start against Cincinnati Bengals

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is good to go for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fitzpatrick missed last week’s game due to appendicitis. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network says that doctors removed the appendix before it ruptured, making for a shorter recovery time.

While many would expect a longer recovery from such an operation, this appeared to be the direction that Fitzpatrick was trending earlier this week. Head coach Mike Tomlin previously addressed Fitzpatrick’s status and gave a rather optimistic outlook.

“Reports regarding Minkah and his inclusion this week are really positive,” Tomlin said Tuesday, according to ESPN. “I know that he’s already been here and run [Tuesday]. I saw him Sunday at the stadium, and Minkah wanted to play on Sunday. Obviously, that wasn’t the appropriate thing to do, but that’s just the mentality that he brings in. Oftentimes, when you’re talking about injury or being unavailable, coming back from lack of availability, your attitude has a lot to do with it and so we’re really optimistic about him.”

The return of Fitzpatrick strongly bolsters a Steelers defense that will be tasked with slowing down a very impressive Bengals offense. Fitzpatrick has 45 tackles this season, 28 of which are solo. He also has six pass deflections and three interceptions on the year.

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Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are slated for a 4:25 p.m. ET kick today. The game will be shown on CBS.