The Pittsburgh Steelers will play their twelfth game of the 2023 regular season on Sunday afternoon, and this week it will be a home contest against the Arizona Cardinals. This week the Steelers will enter their game as home favorites mainly due to Arizona’s injury woes and personnel. Below are five key things that I believe the Steelers will need to do Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium to come away with their eighth win of the 2023 season.
No James Flames – Former Steelers RB James Conner will return to Pittsburgh on Sunday and you can bet the Cardinals primary ball carrier has had this game circled on his calendar for quite some time now. Conner leads Arizona in rushing entering Week 13 with 526 yards and two touchdowns on 104 carries. Interestingly enough, 124 of those 526 yards (23.6%) have come on just five explosive runs of 20 yards or longer. Even so, his other 99 runs have resulted in a 4.06 yards per carry average, which is obviously impressive.
The Cardinals’ running game hasn’t been bad at all so far this season and so you can expect their offense to attempt to lean on Connor early and often on Sunday. Conner is a tough running back to get on the ground and especially as the game goes on. Forcing the Cardinals away from their Conner ground game should pay dividends as Arizona QB Kyler Murray is 11-21-1 in the games in which he has attempted 34 or more passes in.
Paint Cardinal Red Green – For the season, the Steelers’ offense hasn’t been great inside the red zone. In fact, the unit enters Week 13 ranked 28th overall in the NFL in red zone success percentage at 43.48%. In Week 12, the Steelers’ offense moved the football much better but even so, the unit only managed one touchdown in four red zone trips last Sunday. Of the Steelers’ ten red zone touchdowns that their offense has scored this season, only three of those have come via a pass. QB Kenny Pickett also has just six touchdown passes on the season and the Steelers have just seven of those as a team.
On Sunday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, the Steelers offense will face a Cardinals defense that is ranked 22nd in the NFL in red zone percentage at 59.26% as 32 of 54 red zone drives against that unit have culminated in touchdowns. This team needs to get their red zone scoring on track against the Cardinals either via the run or the pass. They must start finishing their better drives with touchdowns instead of field goals.
Control The Hollywood Pyrotechnics – The Cardinals have produced 24 explosive passing plays of 20 yards or longer so far this season and WR Marquise “Hollywood” Brown has been on the receiving end of eight of those, which is a third of them. Brown also has one explosive play on the ground so far this season via an end-around. He has the ability to create an explosive play every time he touches the football, and so you can bet Murray will be looking for him a bunch on Sunday and especially with the Cardinals down a few wide receivers in Michael Wilson and Zach Pascal.
The Steelers have been letting rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. travel and cover the opposing team’s top wide receiver as of late and because of that, it’s a good bet we’ll see him travel with Brown quite a bit on Sunday with S Minkah Fitzpatrick helping at times over the top. If the Steelers’ defense can keep Brown in check on Sunday, and especially when it comes to explosive plays, it would go a long way in helping the team win the contest.
Bully Ball 101 – The Steelers running game came to life several weeks ago and especially since rookie tackle Broderick Jones was inserted as a starter. In fact, the Steelers have rushed for nearly 700 yards in their last four games and only the Baltimore Ravens have managed to outrush them during that span. Last week, we saw the Steelers offense heavily utilize 13 personnel, which includes three tight ends being on the field at the same time. They had two or more tight ends on the field for 16 plays in total in Week 12. That needs to continue on Sunday.
The Steelers running back duo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren has become quite a one-two punch and on Sunday the team’s offense will face a Cardinals defense that isn’t very good against the run. In fact, the Cardinals are currently ranked 30th overall in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game (140.1) and 26th in the league in yards per rush at 4.46. There’s no reason to think that the Steelers offense won’t be able to have another big game on the ground on Sunday and thus prevent Pickett from having to drop back to pass excessively.
Expect The Unexpected – The Cardinals enter Sunday with a 2-10 record, and they are obviously out of the playoff picture at this point. In short, they can empty the tank the rest of the way and throw caution to the wind in an effort to steal a win or two. That means trick plays are likely on the table on Sunday and that includes fake punts and field goals as well. The Cardinals have run two fake punts already this season and their most recent one was last Sunday.
The Steelers have to know that the Cardinals are willing to pull out all the stops on Sunday on offense and special teams. Depending on how the flow of the game goes, one converted trick play could turn the tide of the game. They better expect the unexpected on Sunday from the Cardinals.
