The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a 24-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and if losing to a 2-10 team isn’t bad enough, both RB Jaylen Warren and WR Diontae Johnson have said that the Steelers took Arizona lighter than they should have.
Despite those comments, DL Cameron Heyward said on his Not Just Football podcast that he doesn’t feel that everyone took Arizona lightly.
“No,” Heyward answered when asked if everybody on the team took Arizona lightly. “Jaylen’s entitled to his opinion, but you prepare week in and week out. I don’t ever overlook a person, if he did, so be it, but the work comes due on Sundays, so you can never overlook somebody, you gotta continue to have the group going and prepared to seize those opportunities.”
A few Steelers veterans came out postgame on Sunday and denied taking Arizona lightly, but both Warren and Johnson admitted they did. Warren and Johnson spoke in broad terms that implied it was the team as a whole taking Arizona lightly, but Heyward is adamant that wasn’t the case. Even if just Warren and Johnson took Arizona lightly and overlooked the Cardinals coming in, that’s a problem and an indictment on the coaching staff.
It cannot be stressed enough ahead of a game against a team like the Cardinals that everybody is in the NFL for a reason, and there’s no lack of talent on rosters, even if a team has a bad record. Arizona beat the Dallas Cowboys earlier this season and has played competitive football for much of the season, even if it hasn’t resulted in wins. They recently saw QB Kyler Murray return, while TE Trey McBride has been one of the breakout stories of the season and one of the game’s best tight ends. Yet, the Steelers came out flat against Arizona, and while injuries didn’t help the cause, they let the Cardinals embarrass them on their home field.
The coaching staff clearly didn’t emphasize enough the importance of not overlooking Arizona. Pittsburgh’s performance against bad teams is the biggest flaw on Mike Tomlin’s resume. Good football teams should beat inferior opponents on their home field, and the Steelers failed to do so. Even if 51 guys in that locker room didn’t overlook Arizona, if just two did, that’s a problem.
The good thing is that the Steelers quickly have the opportunity to flush that loss with a matchup on Thursday against another 2-10 opponent in the New England Patriots coming to town. If the Steelers struggle against the Patriots, though, there’s going to be serious questions about the leadership of this team if they don’t learn from their mistakes against Arizona. Given that it’s a short week though, it would be hard not to learn, and it should be a game the Steelers come out fired up for and try to prove that they can actually beat a team that’s much worse than they are.
It’s going to be an interesting game, likely one without much offense, but the Steelers better have learned their lesson to not take anyone lightly.
Watch the full Not Just Football podcast below.
