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By MARIO KALO
Cronkite News
TEMPE — With just over two minutes remaining in Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh, the Arizona Cardinals trailed 18-13 but were in a familiar situation to steal a victory.
Carson Palmer had zipped a pass that fell into wide receiver John Brown’s arms for a crucial 19-yard gain that moved the Cardinals into the red zone. Arizona was ready to regain the lead late despite playing far from its best football against a feisty Pittsburgh Steelers team playing its third-string quarterback.
From the Pittsburgh 20-yard line, Palmer looked to connect with Brown in the end zone. Brown had a career-high 196 receiving yards and was looking to catch his first touchdown of the game. Instead, Steelers safety Mike Mitchell jumped the route and intercepted the pass to seal Pittsburgh’s eventual 25-13 victory over Arizona.
Under head coach Bruce Arians’ guidance, the Cardinals have capitalized on such opportunities more often than not. But Sunday’s missed chance was a feeling of bitter familiarity for Arians and his team.
“It’s like déjà vu from St. Louis,” he said, referring to his team’s 24-22 loss to the Rams on Oct. 4. “Both those games, they’re identical. It was us beating us.”
The Cardinals had three turnovers in Sunday’s loss, including another interception thrown by Palmer in the first quarter and a lost fumble by Brown in the third quarter.
After forcing six turnovers in last week’s emphatic victory in Detroit, the Cardinals defense had no takeaways in Pittsburgh. The team also committed three turnovers and failed to create takeaways in its Week 4 loss to St. Louis.
In addition to the three costly turnovers, the Cardinals accumulated 111 penalty yards on nine infractions, many of which halted drives and neutralized any momentum Arizona had.
But during both losses, the Cardinals still had opportunities to win the game, only to squander them in the fourth quarter.
“It’s not the end of the world, but you learn from it,” Arians said. “We had an opportunity to do something special, win two on the road, but we can still do that. I like the way our football team has been resilient and bounced back so far this year.”
The Cardinals’ red zone efficiency has regressed since their lopsided 40-point win against San Francisco in Week 3, in which the team converted 11 of 12 red zone possessions into touchdowns.
Arizona was in the red zone four times Sunday, but only scored one touchdown in those four possessions.
Arians said a lack of execution and the struggle to finish plays in opponent’s territory led to some of his team’s miscues.
“On the road, it’s a little bit harder to hear, especially there,” he said. “That’s why we have hand signals and other things, but we have to be on the same page, especially in the red zone.”
The Cardinals will look to regroup next week when they host the Baltimore Ravens in a nationally televised game on Monday Night Football.
Injury Update: Tight end Darren Fells is the only player expected to miss significant time coming out of Sunday’s loss. Fells has a left shoulder sprain that is expected to sideline him two to three weeks, according to The Arizona Republic.
Arians said veteran Jermaine Gresham and fellow tight end Troy Niklas will fill the void at tight end until Fells recovers.
Second Half Woes: The Cardinals amassed 279 total yards in the first half while limiting the Steelers to just 59 total yards. Despite the lopsided numbers in its favor, Arizona only managed to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.
The Cardinals defense faltered in the second half, as third-string quarterback Landry Jones, making his NFL debut, carved up the team’s secondary for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
“Give credit to Landry Jones,” Arians said. “He came in and did a heck of a job for a young guy that’s never played, but we didn’t knock him down either. We let him get comfortable.”
