The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a devastating loss to the lowly Arizona Cardinals this past weekend, and wide receiver Diontae Johnson was none too pleased with his team’s effort.
When asked about the Week 13 defeat, Johnson said that he thinks the Steelers may have been playing down to their competition.
“I don’t know, I felt like that the whole week — once we got out there, I just felt like something was different,” Johnson said, via 93.7 The Fan. “We [weren’t] at our best and what not. But I feel like we just took them [more] lightly than we should have.”
The Cardinals entered the matchup with a record of 2-10 but ended up thumping the Steelers by a score of 24-10 in Pittsburgh.
Of course, Arizona now has Kyler Murray back under center, so it does not have the same struggling offense it possessed earlier in the season, but it doesn’t change the fact that this was a terrible home loss for the Steelers.
“We can’t come in this Thursday with the same mindset,” Johnson said, referencing his team’s Thursday night clash with the New England Patriots. “We’re going to be fine. We’ve moved past it.”
Johnson logged four catches for 33 yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Cardinals. On the season overall, he has totaled 34 receptions for 418 yards and a couple of scores in eight games.
The Steelers fell to 7-5 with their loss to the Cards and sit two games behind the Baltimore Ravens for first place in the AFC North. The good news is that they still hold the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff picture, but their margin for error is obviously much smaller thanks to their most recent defeat.
Diontae Johnson is not the first Pittsburgh player to question the team’s effort against Arizona. Running back Jaylen Warren also said the club may have overlooked the Cardinals, even if head coach Mike Tomlin disagreed.
Following their matchup with the Patriots this week, the Steelers will face the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks and the Ravens to close out the regular season.
Pittsburgh has not posted a losing campaign since 2003.
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