Coming into Sunday’s matchup against the Pitsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride was a well-known commodity as a legitimate threat as a pass catcher at the position.
Entering Week 13, McBride had 48 receptions for 521 yards and a touchdown, looking like one of the next great young tight ends in the NFL.
He continued that Sunday at Acrisure Stadium in the Cardinals’ 24-10 win over the Steelers, finishing with eight receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown.
McBride took over on the 99-yard touchdown drive at the end of the first half for the Cardinals. He had a handful of key catches before getting into the end zone twice, having one catch overruled before scoring on the very next play.
For Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, it was frustrating to see the Cardinals’ tight end catching some passes over the middle and generating offense for the Cardinals.
“We really let the tight end catch a couple balls over the middle. He is a good player. I don’t think we gave him the respect he deserved at first,” Fitzpatrick stated to reporters after the loss, according to video via the Post-Gazette.
Well then.
That’s a rather damning statement and leads to question marks popping up all around the defensive coaching staff.
Wide receivers Hollywood Brown and Rondale Moore are the big names in the passing game for the Cardinals, and James Conner is quite obviously the dude in the backfield in the run game for the Cardinals. But watching tape of the last three games that quarterback Kyler Murray has played in since returning from a torn ACL last December, he’s gone to McBride more than anyone.
In the three games with Murray back in the lineup, McBride had 20 targets coming into Sunday. He had another nine targets against the Steelers.
How, exactly, can the Steelers’ coaching staff not justify giving McBride the type of respect he deserved coming into the game?
To the Steelers’ credit, they made adjustments, but it was too little, too late. McBride had done his damage in the first half, helping the Cardinals take a 10-3 lead.
McBride had just two targets and two receptions in the second half. The Steelers took him away, but the game was well out of hand by that point. They had no answer in the first half and were slow to make adjustments.
On the 99-yard touchdown drive, McBride had four receptions, three of which came on third down, moving the chains. The Steelers primarily had linebacker Mykal Walker on him in coverage, and McBride dominated him. A coaching decision as far as attention paid and respect given to a young tight end who has been dominating this season cost the Steelers in that matchup.
Painful.
