Contents

FEATURES

Current Highlights

Rumors & Innuendo

Training Camp Blog

Depth Chart

Roster

Player Evaluations

OTHER TOPICS

History of the Cardinals

About the Big Red Sheet

Welcome From the Editor

About the Editor

Memory of a True Card Fan

Order Cardinal Tickets

Links to  Cardinal Related Sites

2019 Reg Season

........Steelers 23 Cardinals 17

The Lede
The Bottom Line
Game Recap
Game Stats
Bright Spots
The Dark Side
Last Word

The Setup
Steelers - without Roethlisberger - surprised the world by going 7 & 5 & most recently upsetting Cleveland Browns (glamor boys of the NFL going into the season) 20 - 13. Cardinals had dropped five straight games and most recently played what can only be described as "last- place football" vs, Rams to arrive at an unglamorous 3 - 8 - 1.

Lede
Cards Fall to Steelers 23 - 17


The Bottom Line:
At least the Cards made it close. After falling behind 10 - 0 in the 1Q, the Cards managed to take a 20 - 17 deficit well into the 4Q, but were unable to close the gap within the final 6:44.

The USA Today writer got it right; when asking: "If the Cardinals like to brag about "The Red Sea", why were they mainly wearing black & yellow, Sunday?" The Steeler Nation evidently "travels well" - not only did they fill the stands with yellow and black-garbed rooters; "they brought signs" (Oh yeah, they brought signs).

What was supposed to be a Cardinal home game had all the flavor of an away game vs. the Raiders. including crowd noise from the Steeler faithful... (Note to Roger Goodell - Don't do us any favors by scheduling home games vs. midwestern teams for the weeks before Christmas. It fills the majority of seats with "snow birds" from Minnesota, Green Bay, Cleveland, Cincy and, of course, Pittsburgh.

And, of course, you can't lay the blame on the League schedulers. Any Cardinal season-ticket holder who sells seats to opposing fans has to shoulder some of the responsibility. And, also of course - if the Cards were playing good football you wouldn't find available seats any place/anywhere.

Game Recap
Steelers played a "close to the vest" game, running the ball 35 times (to Arizona's 22) with their QB (Hodges) completing 16 of 19 throws for 135 yds. In doing so, they were somehow able to frequently "cut the legs off" Kyler Murray ( who gained 2 yards on 6 rushing attempts & was sacked 5 times).

Margin of victory actually turned out to come from Diontae Johnson's 85 yd TD return. There are your keys to the game - (1) the 85 yd punt return and (2) issues running the football.

Scoring Summary:


1st Quarter

FG - Steelers - Boswell - 30 Yds- Steelers 3 - Cards 0

TD - Steelers - Di Johnson - 85 yd punt return - Steelers 10 - Cards 0

1st Quarter Score: Steelers 10 - Cards 0

2nd Quarter

  • FG - Cards - Gonzalez - 30 yds - Steelers 10 Cards 3

    TD - Cards- Clay - 5 yd pass from Murray- Steelers 10 Cards 10

    FG - Steelers - Boswell 37 yds - Steelers 13 - Cards 10

    Halftme Score: Steelers 13 - Cards 10

3rd Quarter

TD - Steelers - Di Johnson - 2 yd pass from Hodgers - Steelers 20 - Cards 10

    • Third Quarter Score: Steelers 20 - Cards 10
4th Quarter

TD - Cards - Da Johnson - 24 Yd pass fr Murray- Steelers 20 - Cards 17

FG - Steelers - Boswell - 25 Yds - Steelers 23 - Cards 17

Final Score: Steelers 23 - Cards 17

 

Notable Game Stats.

  • First Downs Pit 20 Cards 17
  • Passing: Murray 20 for 30...2 TDs..194 yds...3 Ints
    ................Hodges 16 for 19, 152 yds, 1 TD and 0 Int

    Sacked: Cards 5 for 29 - Pit 3 for 17 yds

    Rushing: Drake 11 for 37...Murray 6 for 2
    ................Snell 16 for 41...Whyte 5 for 41...Hodges 5 for 34

    Receiving: Cards - Kirk 8 for 85...Drake 3 for 30...Fitz 3 for 30
    .................. Pit - Di Johnson 6 for 60 & 1 TD...Washington 4 for 33

    Interceptions - Cards - 2 for 67 Yds... Niners - none

    Fumbles Lost - Cards 0 for 1...- Pit - 2 of 3

    Penalties - Cards 7 for 75 - Pit 4 for 20

    Time of Possession: Cards 28:06 - Pit 31:54

The "Bright Side"

  • We didn't get buried.

    Most of the team played hard for 60 minutes

The Dark Side

  • 6 losses in a row.
  • Hodges 1 - Murray 0.
  • Steeler fans outnumbered our guys
  • We could't close the deal in the 4Q.

    Our corners were typically outrun by their receivers

    Once again - we lost most of the one-on-one battles

    The punt return TD was an embarrassment - My TV screen was full of Steeler blockers and no Cardinal players anywhere to be found.

    You get the feeling that teams have figured out Murray (i.e. they took away the outside rush and beat our receivers when they tried to get outside)

Last Word:
Most Cardinal players played hard for 60 minutes but not 100% of the Cardinal players. Is this due to lack of effort by our guyss? Or the inability of our coaches to motivate players? (Probably a little of both).

I just don't get the feeling that 100% of the players are fighting 100% of the time to make plays 100% of the time.

Like both Niner games, this one was winnable. But the Steelers won the "physical" battle and made fewer mistakes.


The Big Red Sheet web site is not the official web site nor do we represent the official views of the Arizona Cardinals Football Club or National Football League. We are a forum for various input and opinions from a broad variety of sources, and our content will most likely will be a combination of fact, opinion and hearsay. While we will take reasonable precautions to avoid inaccuracies or misstatements and will issue corrections or retractions if warranted, we will not assume responsibility for the type of minor unintentional inaccuracies that are a natural part of web site publishing.

Click here with questions or comments about the Cardinals or this web site.

Copyright © 1996 Gollin & Associates. Last modified: 11/26/2012