Following each game in the 2023 Steelers season I will once again be giving you my 10 takes. These aren’t hot takes that are meant to shock the world. They will be instant reactions to the game, written while still in that period just following the game when the emotions are high, and the ideas are fresh. Included will be thoughts, observations, queries, and reasons that caused me to yell at the television.
Regular Season Week 13 vs Arizona Cardinals
1. The Polish is Off – Last week, there was hope. Improvement leading to potential. This week that was erased. It’s buried in the litter box now. The Steelers reverted back to their all-too-often history of playing down to their opponent. You don’t lose to a 10-loss team at home. There were so many bad things in this game. Too many for one take so there will be more below. Two rain delays weren’t enough to wash away the stench of this game. I am embarrassed for them.
2. The Devil is in the Details – You have to be able to do the simple things. Don’t make things more difficult for yourself. Multiple bad snaps by the center, Mason Cole. And it’s happened quite a bit this year. Failing repeatedly every single week to score touchdowns in the red zone. A false start by Diontae Johnson. Twelve men on defense after a timeout. Illegal formation twice. The offensive coordinators should be ashamed, and the quarterbacks need to see this as well. Undisciplined from the top down.
3. Report of Abuse – One of the few bright spots in the game was the play of Alex Highsmith, T.J. Watt and Keeanu Benton. That trio abused the offensive linemen of the Cardinals by repeatedly beating them with speed and quickness. Poor Hjalte Froholdt, the Arizona center, spent more time in the backfield than James Conner. The Cardinals tackles were turnstiles to the tune of 14 tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, four quarterback hits and a pass knocked down. Alas, it wasn’t enough, but they did play well.
4. Rush to Judgement – The Cardinals completed 13 passes. Eight of those went to tight end Trey McBride, most of them on the drive before the half. A linebacker was usually in coverage getting beat regularly. Why don’t you have Minkah Fitzpatrick on him? Or Trenton Thompson? In his only two games, Darius Rush was used to cover tight ends in the dime defense. He was inactive. The Cardinals don’t have a lot of weapons. Why was there no contingency plan to cover the tight end? Yes, the Steelers have had this issue in the past, but they had been better this year, coming in allowing just two touchdowns and in the bottom third defensively in yards allowed to tight ends.
5. Famine to Feast – The first five third downs the Cardinals offense faced, they failed to convert. They had one drive extended on third down due to a penalty. After that they converted 10 of 12. It started at the end of the first half. The Steelers gave up gains of 21, 19, 17, 15 and the five-yard touchdown on third down. On that 99-yard drive, 77 yards were on third down! No offense to these guys but Elijah Higgins, Michael Carter and McBride aren’t the most dangerous group of players. That drive set the tone for the rest of the game.
6. You’re Killing Me, Brew – Special teams players rarely get a lot of notice when they do good things. They get much more attention when they do bad things. Miles Killebrew had a trio of penalties. Running into the kicker cost them five yards but didn’t really hurt the team. Then a fair-catch interference gave the Cardinals fifteen extra yards and good field position in the second quarter. His last penalty, a facemask, gave Arizona the ball at the Steelers’ 33-yard line and started a touchdown drive. He hasn’t had more than two penalties in any season of his career. Tough day for Miles.
7. Alert! Alert! – You’ve seen this from the Steelers quarterbacks. They walk to line, assess the defense, raise their arms in the air and shake two fists while reciting those words. I don’t know what this sequence means. It seems to tell the defense, “Alert! Alert! We are running the ball!”. I don’t have any statistics on this, but I don’t think it’s working. It seems to be an unsuccessful play whenever they do it. Add this to the list of items for team review.
8. Pickett’s Pocket Presence – I don’t want to add insult to injury but there are so many things Kenny Pickett does that I feel are questionable. Three times over the last couple weeks he has had the ball pop up in the air as he is trying to throw. This tells me he’s not anticipating the throwing lanes or not feeling the pressure. He often leaves the pocket to the side of the field without receivers. I know there is an issue with hot routes but being able to recognize blitzers and get the ball out, even in the direction of the feet of receiver, to avoid a sack saves negative yards. And it’s okay to throw the ball away. Don’t take another hit trying to create something out of nothing. Hopefully, it’s still growing pains and he’ll figure it out.
9. Set Up to Fail – Why throw the ball behind the line of scrimmage? Do you like this play? They tried it on third down to Diontae Johnson and it failed. Pickett threw to Jaylen Warren in the flat five yards behind the line of scrimmage equaling negative yards. If you throw it past the line of scrimmage and complete it, you can’t get negative yards. That’s and oversimplification but you get my point. The object of the game is to move the ball down the field not to the side of the field. It’s a part of modern offenses, I get it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.
10. High-Speed Maneuvers – This is in reference to the unnecessary roughness penalty called on Elandon Roberts. The hit looked nasty, and you could tell by his reaction it wasn’t intentional. On the play, Cardinals running back Emari Demercado fell forward after reaching for a ball thrown too high. Roberts is doing his job and coming up to hit Demercado and leaning forward as if to make a tackle. There are approximately three yards between them. The expectation is Roberts should be able to change his body angle to avoid the collision. Two NFL players moving at each other at near full speed have less than one second to decide on what to do over a nine-foot distance. Physics won’t allow the changes the referees expect. I understand it is about safety and I don’t want to see players injured. But asking defenders to do something that is nearly impossible physically is unfair.
