For T.J. Watt, the Pittsburgh Steelers got their asses kicked.
For Alex Highsmith, the Steelers were punched in the mouth.
No matter what part of the body part you want to compare it to, the result was the same. An ugly 24-10 loss to a 2-10 Arizona Cardinals team. Excuse me, now a 3-10 Cardinals team.
For the first 35 minutes, the Steelers’ defense held firm. But Arizona landed the first blow late in the first half, a 99-yard drive that ended in a touchdown from TE Trey McBride. But the fourth quarter, RB James Conner ran behind his line and delivered the knockout hit.
For the Steelers, they’re not the Eagles’ head of security. There was no rallying cry. The beating just continued.
“They came out, they punched us in the mouth,” Highsmith said via 93.7 The Fan. “They came out, they performed, and we didn’t. We didn’t fight through that adversity today. We let it get the best of us. That’s not winning football. We gotta fix that ASAP.”
By game’s end, the Cardinals had racked up 150 yards rushing and two scores. That was supposed to be Pittsburgh’s goal to reach. Instead, the Steelers spent the late stages of the game throwing and desperately trying to play catchup as the Cardinals grinded out the final minutes with the running game.
For Pittsburgh, it’s one of the worst losses of the Mike Tomlin era. Historically, it’s one of the Steelers’ worst losses ever, something we’ll explain in a Monday article, a stat so weird it deserves its own post. Arizona came into this game with just one win since October and got blown out by the Los Angeles Rams last weekend. For the Cardinals, one of the league’s worst teams last year and through the first 12 weeks of the NFL calendar this year, it was arguably their best win since the 2021 season.
But for Highsmith, the Steelers’ resolve will be shown by how they respond to it. They can quickly move past this game with eyes toward the New England Patriots Thursday night. That’s where Highsmith is pivoting.
“Come out and make a statement on Thursday,” he said.
Pittsburgh’s done it once this year already. In Week Eight, the Steelers lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-10, also a game in which Kenny Pickett went down with injury at the end of the half. Pickett returned and bounced back in Week Nine four days later, beating the Tennessee Titans at home Thursday night, 20-16. They’ll get another 2-10 team in the Patriots, who truly have one of the league’s worst offenses, even worse than Pittsburgh’s. If the Steelers get punched again, their playoff chances might be knocked out for good.
