Sunday’s 24-10 loss to the lowly Arizona Cardinals at Acrisure Stadium is one of the ugliest losses in the Mike Tomlin era, period.
Star outside linebacker T.J. Watt summed up the ugly performance Sunday on the North Shore, which featured two lengthy weather delays, stating that the Steelers got their asses kicked Sunday.
“We got our ass kicked today. I don’t know if it got away from us. We got pummeled today,” Watt said to reporters after the dispiriting loss, according to video via Steelers.com.
Short, sweet, to the point.
That’s all that it was. The Steelers, in all three phases, got punched in the mouth over and over again, and had no answers. An ass-kicking of ugly proportions Sunday.
Though Pittsburgh outgained the Cardinals, allowing just 282 yards of total offense, it allowed 130 rushing yards to the Cardinals as running back James Conner had 105 yards and two touchdowns in his return to Pittsburgh. The Steelers also allowed the Cardinals to go 3-for-3 in the red zone Sunday and allowed Arizona to convert 10-of-17 third downs on the afternoon.
It wasn’t about the game getting away from the Steelers. They just got bullied, period, and it occurred against one of the worst teams in the league.
Right after the Steelers failed to score on a 4th and 1 from the 1-yard line, the defense allowed Arizona to march 99 yards to end the second quarter, scoring a touchdown to take a 10-3 lead at the half. That was rather deflating.
Then, after a botched snap and fumble from backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky, Conner cashed in for the Cardinals as the Steelers — the NFL’s best defense in the red zone coming into the game — folded time and time again. It was capped by the Cardinals marching 33 yards in four plays for the final touchdown, and then salting the game away with a nine-play, 53-yard drive to run out the clock.
It was an ass-kicking, like Watt stated. Rather disheartening it occurred in a matchup that was extremely favorable for the Steelers, too.
