Will the Steelers be motivated for underachieving Cardinals?
Memorable series moment
Steelers 26, Cardinals 20 (OT)
Nov. 30 at Sun Devil Stadium
The Steelers returned to the scene of their Super Bowl XXX loss with an 8-4 record against the 3-9 Cardinals, and it wasn’t easy. The Steelers finished 1997 as the NFL’s No. 1 rushing and rushing defense team, and that’s how this game broke down. Jerome Bettis rushed for 142 yards and 3 touchdowns on 36 carries, while the defense sacked Jake Plummer 10 times and held the Cardinals to 48 yards rushing. The Steelers took a 7-0 lead that turned into 10-3 at halftime, but they couldn’t put the Cardinals away. Plummer picked on cornerbacks Donnell Woolford and rookie Chad Scott in rallying to tie the game at 17-17 late in the third quarter, and then 20-20 at the 4:20 mark of the fourth. The Cardinals could’ve won late, but Joe Nedney missed a 46-yard field goal in the final seconds of regulation. The Cards got the ball first in OT, but sacks by Levon Kirkland and Jason Gildon turned the ball over to Kordell Stewart, who completed two passes to Yancey Thigpen in moving to the Arizona 18. A touchdown run by Bettis won the game.
Tale of the tape
“The reason the Cardinals’ defense is ranked so poorly, they don’t look disciplined and they don’t play every play. It’s almost as if early in the game they’re flying around, but after they’re losing they seem to take plays off. As I’m watching them, they don’t play hard. I just think they like to rush the passer, and I also think if the game is close early, they’ll play hard. But if the Steelers jump out to a lead, that’s when I think the Cardinals will start fading.” — Steelers Radio analyst Tunch Ilkin.
Top question
Will the Steelers be properly motivated for the 3-8-1 Cardinals?
As history (above) has shown, even the best Steelers teams can struggle with the worst teams when on the road. The ’97 Steelers won in overtime, and this Steelers team has the same potential for being upset by a team on a 5-game losing streak. Under Mike Tomlin, the Steelers are 17-14-1 as slight favorites (0-4) on the road. The guess here is that many of those 14 losses followed emotional 3-game divisional runs.
Three questions: With WR James Washington
Q: In your darkest moments last year, did you ever doubt your game would come?
JW: “I never really doubted it. Just waiting on when it was all going to start clicking, when everyone would be on the same page and when it would start to happen for us.”
Q: Do guys like Tevin Jones and Diontae Johnson look up to you as a leader now?
JW: “I guess you can say that, but we’re kind of giving each other advice. We all talk to each other and we all have an ear for each other to listen.”
Q: Fans haven’t seen the full you yet, have they?
JW: “No. I haven’t really put my jumping on display yet, I guess you could say. You know Duck and the quarterbacks have been throwing good balls so I haven’t had to jump much. But it will happen one of these days, for sure.”
Game breakdown
What to look for from the Steelers at 4:25 this evening in Arizona
ON OFFENSE:
The Steelers will again be without James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster, but will it matter against the 32nd-ranked defense? Well, the Cardinals do have talent. DE/OLB Terrell Suggs has 138 career sacks; his bookend, Chandler Jones, has 13 sacks this season; CB Patrick Peterson has 8 Pro Bowls; ILB Jordan Hicks has 123 tackles and 3 interceptions; FS Budda Baker has 119 tackles; and CB Byron Murphy was the first pick of the second round and the rookie has missed only three snaps this season. Our film analyst Ilkin loves Hicks and Baker, but here’s how he knocks the others: “Jones is their best pass-rusher but he’s not very good against the run. … Suggs lost a couple steps. He’s not Terrell Suggs anymore. He looks more off-balance. … Peterson just isn’t playing well and (Murphy) is kind of small. He’s got decent ball skills and will undercut routes, so double moves will help.”
ON DEFENSE:
The Steelers are at full strength, but so are the Cardinals, who have the third fewest giveaways (9) in the league this season. The Steelers have faced enough mobile QBs this season to know how to contain the first pick of the draft, Kyler Murray. The Cardinals traded for Kenyan Drake and he’s joined in the backfield by David Johnson, a Le’Veon Bell type with 33 receptions (10.1 avg.). WR Larry Fitzgerald, the only remaining player on either active roster from Super Bowl 43, has 61 catches (10.6) opposite Christian Kirk, who has 49 catches (10.8).
Prediction
With the NFL’s 32nd-ranked defense, I expected the key numbers from the last five games — all Cardinals losses — to be horrendous. They’re not. Against .700 competition, the Cardinals hold a solid +1.6 yard-per-snap edge in the run game against a Steelers team that’s played .400 competition. The Steelers’ advantages in pass defense and scoring efficiency aren’t as large as they’ve been against recent foes. Ilkin talked about the Cardinals quitting if they fall behind early, but why would anyone think the Steelers will all of the sudden start fast? In ’97, Nedney missed a late 46-yarder and the Steelers won in overtime. This one might also go to the wire, and there’s another dynamic we’ve seen over the years that might help the Cardinals: A home team will often play harder when its stadium is full of visiting fans. … Cardinals, 19-16.
By the numbers
1: Interception this season by the 29-year-old Peterson in six games played. He sat out the first six games under suspension for PED use.
2: Games won by Duck Hodges are the most consecutive wins by an undrafted rookie quarterback (non-replacement player during a strike) to start a career since the drafts merged in 1967.
4: Yards from scrimmage needed by Fitzgerald to become the 10th player in NFL history with 17,000 career scrimmage yards.
7: Consecutive games with a full sack by T.J. Watt, the longest active streak in the NFL.
13: Sacks by the Cards’ Jones, the first player with 13-plus sacks in three consecutive seasons since Jared Allen (2007-09).
Downloads
n Murray didn’t run for scouts before this past draft, but was timed in the 40 at 4.38 in the spring of 2017. That speed’s apparent throughout his 446-yard rushing season. He leads the Cardinals in rushing, and makes him one of three NFL QBs (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson) with 400-plus rushing yards and 2,500-plus passing yards. Much of his rushing yardage comes from designed plays. “He makes himself more of a wildcat guy in terms of running the football,” said DC Keith Butler. “A lot of defenses, it’s hard to get all the gaps covered when he’s running the football because there’s an extra guy that you usually don’t have to account for.”
n Diontae Johnson’s 36 catches tie him with Hunter Refrow and Marquise Brown for the most by an AFC rookie this season. But Johnson’s coming off a mistake-filled game against Cleveland. Is he hitting the proverbial rookie wall? “No,” said OC Randy Fichtner. “He’s always had a couple of knicks and knacks. This is a big person sport and he’s not a big guy right now, and unfortunately he’s not going to have time to develop that until the offseason at this point. I think the wear and tear is just general for all young guys.”
n Cardinals kicker Zane Gonzalez is fourth in the NFL with 99 points. He’s missed only 3-of-29 kicks, or two fewer than he missed in the first two games of 2018. He was the Browns kicker who had the 43-yarder blocked by the Steelers in the opening-day tie. Gonzalez then missed four kicks in a 3-point Week 2 loss to New Orleans. He’s been solid with the Cardinals, who brought the Arizona State grad back home late last season.
n The 43 sacks by the Steelers through 12 games are the most by the Steelers over their first 12 games of a season since 1994, when the “Blitzburgh” registered 45 of their eventual 55 sacks. The team record is 56 in 2017.
n Hodges prepared for his third career start the same way he did his first: without much interference from the head coach. “We’re giving him the attention a starter appropriately deserves,” said Mike Tomlin. “We are not giving him any additional attention. … I am thoughtful about my interactions with people. … I told Duck I had a lot of confidence in his abilities and his preparation and his talents. I wanted to display that confidence by not talking him to death, not having a bunch of additional meetings and things of that nature. I wanted to display that confidence by going about our routine.”
Parting shot
“It’s pretty unique playing against the Heisman winner and being the Walter Payton winner, the Heisman of the FCS. It’s going to be a fun game.” — Steelers QB Duck Hodges.