PITTSBURGH -- As Beanie Bishop Jr. corralled the ricocheted pass off Garrett Wilson's chest, the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie slot cornerback channeled one of the franchise's greats.
Not Troy Polamalu, Donnie Shell or any other defensive back. Instead, as Bishop grabbed his second career interception -- and second off Aaron Rodgers on Sunday night -- he thought: What would Le'Veon Bell do?
So after racing up the sideline for 20 yards, he cut back across the middle of the field, weaving through a sea of New York Jets and Steelers before being tackled a yard shy of the goal line by Davante Adams flying in from behind.
"Guys was giving me hell about not running fast, but I told 'em, 'Have they ever seen Le'Veon Bell run the ball?' It's patience," Bishop said, grinning on the dais after the Steelers' 37-15 victory. "And coaches, they got on me earlier this week. They was like, 'Man, don't cut back in there with all of the offensive linemen.' I'm like, 'Why not? Those guys don't work on tackling.'"
Bishop's heads-up play all but gift-wrapped the Russell Wilson-led offense their second touchdown of the evening. A play later, Wilson muscled his way into the end zone on a 1-yard sneak, marking the second touchdown scored by the Steelers off Bishop's interceptions.
"They said you got two assists," Bishop said of what Wilson and the offense told him.
For Bishop, the night was more than about a singular breakout performance on a prime-time stage, it was redemption after a rough outing in his first Sunday night game two weeks ago. And it was validation for the coaching staff that identified him as an up-and-coming talent with first-team reps early in training camp -- not only unusual for a rookie, but a rarity for one signed as an undrafted free agent.
"It means a lot," Bishop said of his rebound performance. "But I still got to go out next week and prove that I'm a capable player. Obviously, teams are going to still attack me because I'm the young guy in the group. We have great veterans, Minkah [Fitzpatrick], DeShon [Elliott], [Donte Jackson] guys like that. [Damontae] Kazee has really been in my ear a lot telling me, just go out and play ball, be you. You're not here for no reason."
Kazee is right, Bishop is on the Steelers for a reason -- several, in fact.
Bishop, born Shannon Bishop Jr. after his dad, was nicknamed Beanie by his godmother who called him "my Beanie baby" when he was born, and it stuck. After transferring to West Virginia for his redshirt senior season, Bishop earned second-team All-America honors from a slew of national outlets as he led the Mountaineers with four interceptions. He also led the country with 24 passes defended and 20 pass breakups and finished second nationally with 17 forced incompletions. And yet, as an undersized, two-star recruit who made stops at two other programs en route to WVU, the Louisville native was overlooked in the NFL draft.
Turns out, not getting selected was just what Bishop needed.
"Growing up where I grew up in Louisville, not a lot of guys make it here," Bishop said. "And just always having that chip on my shoulder, I don't think anything better could have happened to me than going undrafted, honestly."
Even when others didn't, the Steelers took notice of the kid who spent a season in their backyard and quickly added him after the draft concluded.
Since letting Mike Hilton, a 2017 UDFA acquisition-turned-starter, walk for a lucrative free agent contract in Cincinnati four years ago, the Steelers have struggled to find consistency at slot corner. They reacquired Cameron Sutton in the offseason following his release from Detroit, but because he faced an eight-game suspension for violating the personal conduct policy, the Steelers still needed someone to anchor the position.
Bishop worked with the first-team defense throughout training camp, though he sometimes rotated out as he worked through minor injuries and others auditioned for the spot.
"He's a feisty little guy," defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said after the Steelers' first preseason game. "You got a chance to see it. When he came in there and blitzed on the one running back, he knocked him around a little bit, but it's like anything. He's got a ways to go in his game, but I think he's right in the competition in terms of being in that hunt to be a starting nickel, so that's a good thing."
A couple weeks later, Bishop officially earned the starting job on the Week 1 depth chart, and seven games into his rookie season, Bishop is proving he's more than a placeholder.
Though he has given up three touchdowns as the nearest defender, tied for most among slot cornerbacks, he's also tied for the most interceptions at the position. Targeted third-most (38) among the league's slot corners, Bishop has four passes defended and has allowed 60.5% of passes thrown his way to be completed.
There have been, of course, the expected growing pains. Targeted often by Dak Prescott in the Dallas Cowboys' Week 5 win, Bishop gave up four catches for 51 yards on six targets and was flagged for a facemask and a hold, extending drives that eventually led to Cowboys' points.
"What he ran into is what happens to most young guys," Austin said after the Cowboys game. "There's going to be a game where you're tested, and it doesn't go your way. I don't think that's going to be a recurring theme, but a lot of that's going to fall on Beanie and how he reacts to the things that happened to him last week. ... He's a young guy that got tested, and I think he'll bounce back this week."
There was a little bit of a rebound in that next game, against the Las Vegas Raiders, as Bishop gave up three catches on five targets for 14 yards, but one of those catches was a touchdown. The full bounce-back waited until a week later in Sunday night's win, as Bishop picked off Rodgers with less than two minutes until halftime, turning momentum back in the Steelers' favor and setting up Wilson's first touchdown of the night on the ensuing drive.
"Can't say enough about young Beanie Bishop," coach Mike Tomlin said. "Man, that's an awesome evening for him to get his first two interceptions versus a gold jacket guy like Aaron Rodgers. ... Two-minute football, we know Aaron's going to be aggressive. We switched up the schematics and [Beanie] made a significant play."