Labriola on the loss to Arizona

It was a long day, a very long and ugly day for the Steelers when they hosted the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Some of it was attributable to a freak of nature, an act of God. But way too much of it was their own doing, and that was the worst part of it.

The Cardinals arrived in Pittsburgh with a 2-10 record, with a streak of 9 straight losses on the road dating back to Nov. 13, 2022, with an offense that ranked in the bottom third of the league in seven major categories and had turned the ball over 16 times, and with a defense that had allowed an NFL high 54 trips into its red zone and ranked second-to-last in points allowed per game.

All of that turned out to be beside the point because at the end of it, the Cardinals had a 24-10 victory in which it’s fair to say they out-played the Steelers in every phase of the game.

“That was a horrible day at the office,” said Coach Mike Tomlin. “We didn’t do much right in that game, to be quite honest with you. So we’ve got to own that, obviously starting first and foremost with me. Just losing football, really was. We were highly penalized, some pre-snap penalties, some operational penalties, bad snaps. Just JV football in a lot of ways.”

The JV reference is apt, and it holds true for too many aspects of the Steelers performance to be good enough to beat anybody, and the timing of this dud was disappointing.

Some was unexpected, such as three special teams penalties called on Miles Killebrew, a core member of those units, the special teams captain, a guy who has twice as many tackles in coverage as the next closest teammate, and he blocked a punt in a win over the Ravens. Then Chris Boswell, who came into the game having missed just one field goal attempt this season – from 61 yards vs. the Jaguars that came one snap after he was successful on a 55-yard attempt that had been nullified by a head-scratching offside penalty on Isaac Seumalo – missed from 45 yards out when the Steelers had a chance to make it a 1-score game with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

Some was concerning, such as the way Arizona’s 5-man defensive line created a mismatch with the Steelers 3-man interior offensive line and exploited it. The purpose of the Cardinals’ 5-man front is to force the opposing interior offensive linemen into one-on-one situations on every play. That tactic eliminates the double-teaming and combination blocking that are staples in a power-running attack, and it prevents the center from helping in pass protection because it forces him to handle a pass-rusher lined up on his nose.

In a 3-3 game with 4:59 left in the second quarter, the Steelers had a fourth-and-goal from the Cardinals 1-yard line. Najee Harris was stuffed because the Cardinals got great interior push from their defensive linemen. Another time it was second-and-9 from the Steelers 30-yard line, and a bad shotgun snap got away from Mitch Trubisky, who was a handful of plays into taking over because Kenny Pickett limped to the sideline with an ankle injury. The Cardinals recovered at the 21-yard line, and it became a 17-3 game 7 plays later as a result of a 1-yard plunge by James Conner. Add in the fact it wasn’t rookie Broderick Jones’ best game either, particularly in pass protection, and the Cardinals defensive line was making enough plays or forcing enough errors to stymie the Steelers offense on third downs and/or in the red zone to keep the score down and allow its own offense to find its footing.

Some was predictable, such as the realization that they simply had run out of inside linebackers. The losses of Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander to season-ending injuries was absorbed by Elandon Roberts, who stepped up and was everything the defense needed in an all-situations, every-down, green-dot capable inside linebacker, and he had been all that since Alexander was injured on Nov. 12 vs. Green Bay. When a groin injury removed him from this game, the Cardinals exposed Mychal Walker and Mark Robinson in coverage with their tight ends.

After the Cardinals defense held on that fourth-and-goal, their offense took over in a dangerous spot for a unit that, again, turned it over 16 times. A completion to tight end Geoff Swaim gained only 1 yard, because Walker was alongside Roberts, but the next play was a James Conner run up the middle and being in on that tackle injured his groin. Mark Robinson replaced Roberts, and the Cardinals targeted one of their tight ends on the second level every time they needed to convert on third down.

Twenty-one yards to Elijah Higgins on third-and-3. Seventeen yards to Trey McBride on third-and-6. Fifteen-yards to McBride again on third-and-5. A 5-yard pass to McBride on second-and-goal originally was ruled a touchdown, but when it was overturned on replay Kyler Murray went right back to McBride for the touchdown on third-and-goal, and the Cardinals had a 10-3 lead at halftime.

With Roberts on the field, Walker was good enough for the unit to be developing into a unit that found ways to make plays at significant moments to contribute to winning games despite not having a high-scoring offense to serve as a buffer. But losing Roberts so suddenly, the available options weren’t good enough. Even though the Steelers calmed things down in the second half by getting Minkah Fitzpatrick involved with those tight ends, it took an intermission to make the adjustments to the whole back end to compensate. In-game as it was, and mid-possession at that, there weren’t a lot of other realistic options.

The NFL season is now in December, and a game against a 2-10 opponent traveling from the West Coast for a 1 p.m. kickoff is eminently winnable, it needs to become a number in the win column for the opportunities it creates in the standings, with seeding to be determined over the next five weeks.

In not taking care of that bit of business, the Steelers are 7-5 instead of 8-4, and the reality of another 2-10 opponent due next could be viewed as good news, but because of the additions to the injury list (Pickett’s ankle, Roberts’ groin, Seumalo’s shoulder, Fitzpatrick’s broken hand), and the short turnaround time (a Thursday night time slot awaits), it’s no sure thing.

It was a bad day. Costly, too. Annoying, even. So much so that Mother Nature delivered storms with gusty winds and enough lightning to force a postponement of the game two different times, which was the cherry on top of the disjointed sundae.

The Steelers’ 7-5 puts them in second place in their division because Cleveland lost to the Rams and fifth in the conference by virtue of tiebreakers that change week-to-week. They’re still in it, but there’s also too much football on the horizon to feel good about it.