Well, I guess the only saving grace to the Steelers' atrocious loss to the Arizona Cardinals is that the loss is not a conference loss. Make no mistake, this loss is an atrocious one. You can use whatever word you wish, but the end result is the same. We got trounced by a team that had two wins coming into this game.
I frankly can't explain the reason or reasons we lost a home game to the Cardinals, but it doesn't matter. The reality is we lost and it could put a damper on our playoff hopes going into a short week when we host the New England Patriots.
Let's take a look at what we learned on the offensive side of the ball.
The Steelers offense was atrocious
In keeping with the atrocious theme, the Steelers offense was that and then some. To be fair, we did lose Kenny Pickett to an injury, the extent of which was unknown at the time Mike Tomlin held his post-game press conference.
Suffice it to say, the offense wasn't necessarily 'humming' before Pickett went out with injury and it didn't get any better afterward. According to ESPN, although we amassed over three hundred total yards, we converted less than fifty percent of our third downs.
This has been a serious problem all season and it was just amplified today. What has also been a serious problem all season is the lack of production in the 'red zone' or the 'red area', as Tomlin has called it. We were successful in only one time out of three trips to the 'red zone' and were held to ten points.
We were also 'highly penalized', as Tomlin would say. The reality is this game was tough to watch after Pickett exited with injury. The offense is simply not as efficient without Pickett. That's not to say that the offense has been all that efficient with Pickett but after last week where we put up over four hundred yards of offense, I thought we had turned a corner. I was wrong.
Let's see what we learned on the defensive side of the ball.
The Steelers defense was atrocious
Again, in keeping with the theme of the day, as it were, the defense was atrocious. Granted, as was the case with the offense, the defense was dealt another blow with an in-game injury to yet another inside linebacker, as if we needed to deal with another injury to a defensive player.
Tomlin said in his post-game press conference that when Elandon Roberts went down with an injury, the communication suffered. My question is why would that be the case? Why would that happen? To me, the answer is simple. Our depth may be the worst in the league.
That comment is not meant to be a disparagement of any of our backups, but the reality is our backups are backups for a reason. If the communication took a 'hit' when Roberts went out, that's inexcusable and that falls squarely on the shoulders of Tomlin and the coaches on the defensive side of the ball.
To illustrate how porous the defense was against the Cardinals, we allowed ten of seventeen third-down conversions. That translates into a conversion rate of a 'hair' under fifty-nine percent. That's awful. We also gave up one hundred and fifty yards on the ground. Not good, not good at all.
Let's see what else we learned.
The Steelers coaching was atrocious
Again (and again), in keeping with the theme of the day, the coaching job that Tomlin and his staff displayed against the Cardinals was atrocious. There's no other way to describe it. It was atrocious, awful, abysmal, or whatever other word you want to use to describe it.
While I appreciate the fact that Tomlin took responsibility for the poor performance during the post-game press conference, that does not excuse the fact that poor performances against inferior teams have been commonplace since Tomlin has been our head coach.
As I have said several times, I am a Tomlin supporter, but I am not a Tomlin apologist. Good teams beat not-so-good teams at home regardless of injuries or any other mitigating factors. Good teams find a way to beat not-so-good teams at home when they are vying for a playoff spot. Good teams don't commit nine penalties for seventy-seven yards.
That did not happen against the Cardinals. What did happen against the Cardinals was this: We were outplayed and outcoached. That's atrocious. That can not continue to happen. We have a short week and a quick turnaround. The New England Patriots should be on the losing end of another home game against an inferior team. We shall see what happens soon enough.