STEELERS 32 - CARDS 20
The Setup
The Bottom Line
Game Recap
Game Stats
Bright Spots
The Dark Side
Last Word

The Setup
"Two weeks ago (before the Bye) and after reeling from 4 straight gut-wrenching losses, the entire Cardinal team fell apart in Minnesota, falling behind 28 - 0 before the 1Q was even over.  Question of the moment is: Will the Cardinals suck it up and turn their season around? Or will they continue to descend into the abyss. Meanwhile, the Steelers hadn't been exactly setting the world on fire (and displayed a range of performances ranging fron (a) getting blown out by the Ravens, blowing out the Seahawks and Tennessee and (c) winning couple of close ones and losing a close one en route to a 4 & 2 record. They got blown out by Baltimore in Week 1 but shut out Seattle 24 - 0 in Week 2 , beat Indy by a FG in Week 3, lost to Houston by by a TD in Week 4, clobbered Tennesssee 38 - 17 in Week 5 and eked out a win over the Jags a week ago,  17 - 13. Based on their records, personnel and their level of play, you can only conclude that the Cardinals have their work cut out for them."

The Bottom Line:
The first 5-minutes of this football game told you everything you needed to know about the Cardinals. No one picked up an outside blitz, Kolb panicked and threw a dumb interception. Dumb defensive penalties sustained the Pittsburgh offensive drive capped by a pass into the end zone to a Steeler TE who was more wide open than Paris Hilton's bedroom window. What usually decides the outcomes of most NFL games is a team's number of big plays that offset their miscues. In the Cardinals' case, the number of big plays we are making (like LSH's home run catch & run) aren't enough to compensate for the dumb mistakes we make in just about every game.

1st Quarter

• The Howler returned the opening KO all the way to the Cardinal 13. On the 4th play from scrimmage, Kolb panicked when blitzed (with no pickup) from the left-outside and put the ball up for grabs in the last place you'd want to aim it - across the middle and high (where Palomalu or, in this case, Clark could grab the deflection).  A face-mask penalty on A-Dub helped set up a 12-yard pass to Heath Miller who beat Haggans and A-Dub and was all alone in the end zone, Steelers 7 - Cardinals 0.

• A 15-yard completion to Sampson was the only bright spot in a Cardinal drive that started at the 20 and ended with a punt from our own 36. Zastudil's 57-yard punt was returned 16 yards to the Steeler 23. A holding call on Michael Adams & a Steeler flag negated an incompletion on a 3rd & 10 and extended the Steeler drive. Fortunately, a 15-yarder on the Steelers sabotaged their  drive and they punted from the Cardinal 43. Cards took over on their 7 and a 31-yard completion to Fitz moved the ball out to the Steeler 44, where the 2 teams exchanged 15-yard penalties (including offensive interference on Fitz) before the quarter ended. (At least it wasn't 28 - Zip like two weeks ago). 1st Quarter Score: Steelers 7 - Cardinals 0.

2nd Quarter

• On 3rd & 11 at the Pittsburgh 45, Kolb was sacked by Woodley for minus-7. Cards punted. Steelers took over on their own 6 & managed to move to their own 25 before they punted.  Starting from their own 32, the Cards managed to move to their own 39 before punting. Steelers got the ball back on their own 9 and a false start flag moved them to their own 5. It was here that Roethlisberger connected with Mike Wallace (who blew by Marshall) for a 95-yard TD. (Typical Cardinal football).  Steelers 14 - Cardinals 0.

• Cards started their next drive from their own 20 and mounted a 13-play drive of their own - punctuated by an 11-yard scramble by Kolb, completions to Fitz and Housler and a bunch of Steeler penalties. Alfonso Smith banged it in from the 1-yard line. Steelers 14 - Cardinals 7.

• 1:20 til halftime. Steelers started from their own 25. A defensive holding call on Marshall, an interference call on Peterson and an illegal use of hands call on Peterson on the very next play helped move the Steelers to the Cardinal 23, to give the Steelers a gift field goal with Suisham kicking a 41-yarder with 0:03 on the clock. Haftime Score: Steelers 17 - Cardinals 7.

3rd Quarter

• Pittsburgh received the 2H KO and returned it to their own 17. Their drive was stopped at their own 40. Punt was fair caught on the Cardinal 11. One play after being sacked (again) by Woodley, Kolb hit a wide open Howler who motored 73 yards for a TD and, once again, made it a ball game.  Steelers 17 - Cardinals 14.

• Two completions to Heath Miller (for +21 and +17) and a 20-yard pass over the middle to Sanders set up a 4-yard TD completion from Roethlisberger to Sanders. Steelers 24 - Cardinals 14.

• A penalty on Eason on the KO pushed the Cards back to their own 7. On the first play from scrimmage, Kolb was flagged for intentional grounding in his own end zone, resulting in a Cardinal safety. Steelers 26 - Cardinals 14.

• Steelers moved from their own 25 to their own 49 as the quarter ended. 3rd Quarter Score: Steelers 26 - Cardinals 14.

4th Quarter

Last Word:
Well...at least we weren't down 28 - 0 at halftime. What frustrates me most after 6 games is the overall lack of improvement. You see the same mistakes over and over - missed assignments; "Ole!" pass blocking; blown coverages; dumb interceptions. You can make the case that our inexperienced and banged up defensive backfield and a slower-than-expected learning curve on the part of our new QB are responsible for our 1 & 5 record. Problem is: just about every other NFL team has had challenges to overcome, only in most cases, they overcame them, while we on the other hand haven't. You can boil it down to two general causes: (1) Poor coaching/teaching &/or (2) unwillingness or inability of the players to listen to the coaches.

If it's determined that our problems to stem from both, the only way out of this morass may be with a big, wide broom that extends all the way to the GM's office come off-season.