Week 13 was a disaster in so many ways for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hosting the 2-10 Arizona Cardinals at Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh came out flat and was never able to recover, embarrassingly losing 24-10.
Despite outgaining their opponent in yardage for the second straight game, after being outgained in their first 10 matchups, the Steelers fell short in all the categories that mattered. They played an undisciplined version of football on Sunday afternoon, committing a of penalties and not executing when it mattered most.
Head coach Mike Tomlin was not pleased with the performance of his team and spoke about it after the game. He ripped into them, but also took responsibility and accountability as the head coach, saying that it starts with him.
NFL News & Rumors: Mike Tomlin, Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers Updates
“That was a horrible day at the office. We didn’t do much right in that game, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin told reporters. “We have to own that, obviously, starting first and foremost with me. Just losing football. It really was.
“We were highly penalized, some pre-snap penalties, some operational penalties, bad snaps. Just JV football in a lot of ways.” (H/T Heavy)
The Steelers were only 4-of-11 on third down attempts, while the Cardinals went 10-of-17. In the red zone, Pittsburgh managed to score only one touchdown on three trips while Arizona scored on all three of theirs.
One of their trips to the red zone was especially disastrous. Not only did the Steelers get stuffed on the one-yard line on fourth down, but starting quarterback Kenny Pickett went down with an ankle injury. He was knocked out of the game and is expected to miss multiple weeks of action.
The Cardinals responded to that fourth-down stop by going 99 yards and scoring a go-ahead touchdown ahead of halftime. Big momentum-swinging plays all favored Arizona throughout the game, as their first scoring drive was aided by a 15-yard personal foul by linebacker Elandon Roberts to keep things alive.
NFL News & Rumors: Mike Tomlin, Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers Updates
Things didn’t get any better in the second half after multiple weather delays, as a bad snap by center Mason Cole led to the Cardinals starting a drive on the Steelers’ 21-yard line. Kicker Chris Boswell also suffered his first miss inside of 60 yards on the season.
Possibly a good thing, Pittsburgh won’t have too much time before they’re back on the field. They can put this ugly performance behind them as they host the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 14.
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