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Week 4 Game Recap: Pittsburgh Steelers 14, Arizona Cardinals 21
What you need to know
| Pittsburgh Steelers |
Defense was really the name of the game as the Steelers found it tough to consistently gain yardage via the run against the Cardinals. Despite opening the scoring on a first quarter 43 yard Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes touchdown, nine out of the next 11 Steelers' possessions ended in either a punt or a turnover. The offense converted on only five of 15 third downs. The Steelers took a 7-0 lead into halftime despite having only 106 yards total offense. At halftime, Willie Parker had just eight yards on nine carries and finished the game with a total of 37 yards on 19 carries.
Roethlisberger had a little easier time via the pass finishing the game 17 for 32 for 244 yards and two touchdowns both to Santonio Holmes. However, Roethlisberger's yardage total was helped late in the fourth quarter when the Steelers abandoned the run to play catch up. Holmes finished the game with six catches for 128 yards and two scores.
Two second half miscues hurt the Steelers chances to win the game. The first being with the game tied 7-7 late in the third quarter, when the Pittsburgh defense recovered a Kurt Warner fumble on the Arizona four yard line. After two unsuccessful running plays by Parker, Roethlisberger's pass intended for Heath Miller was intercepted in the end zone for a touchback.
The second miscue was on special teams as the Steelers offense went three and out with 14:10 left in the fourth quarter. On fourth down, the punt team was called for an illegal man down field after tackling Arizona's Steve Breaston for only a three yard return. On the re-kick, Breaston broke a couple of tackles and scampered 73 yards for a touchdown to give the Cardinals a 14-7 lead.
Down 21-7 late in the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh rallied to within seven with 1:54 to play on Holmes' second touchdown reception. The Steelers got the ball back with 46 seconds to play needing to drive 91 yards for the tying touchdown. Roethlisberger hit Holmes for 31 yards to the Pittsburgh 40 yard line, but after two incomplete passes and an eight yard sack, on a third and 18, Roethlisberger was intercepted to end the Steelers' potential comeback.
| Arizona Cardinals |
Much like Pittsburgh, the Cardinals offense struggled against the tough Steelers defense, especially in the first half. They were held scoreless in the first half. Matt Leinart started the game very slow and was pressured heavily under a Steelers defensive scheme that blitzed often.
Leinart was only two for six for 17 yards before being replaced by Kurt Warner early in the second quarter under coach Ken Whisenhunt's two quarterback platoon system. Warner played the rest of the first half and the entire third quarter leading the Cardinals on a nine play, 57 yard touchdown drive to tie the score 7-7. Playing in a no huddle offensive scheme, Warner hit wide receiver Jerheme Urban to tie the score with 7:24 to play in the third. Warner finished the game 14 for 21 for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and a fumble. Urban, who was activated due to all-pro wide receiver Anquan Boldin being inactive with a bruised hip, finished the game with five receptions and 53 yards and a touchdown.
The special teams gave the Cardinals the lead when Steve Breaston returned a punt 73 yards to put Arizona up 14-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Leinart then returned on the next Cardinals possession, and on his first play hit Larry Fitzgerald on a pretty 38 yard strike down the left sideline. That completion was part of a 13 play, 82 yard drive Leinart engineered capped off by a two yard touchdown run by Edgerrin James. Like Parker, James found running against the Steelers' front seven difficult and finished the game with 77 yards on 21 carries. Fitzgerald had his 10th career 100 yard game with 11 receptions for 123 yards. Leinart finished the game seven for 14 for 93 yards.
The Cardinals relied on their defense to squash a Steelers' attempt to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Cornerback Ralph Brown intercepted a Roethlisberger third down pass with 19 seconds left to give the Cardinals their second win.
What you ought to know
| QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 17 - 32 - 244 - 2 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 4 - 26 - 0 |
At times, Roethlisberger showed good poise in the pocket against an aggressive Cardinals pass rush. Roethlisberger utilized a shot gun format for most of the game and finished with 17 for 32 for 244 yards and two touchdowns both to Santonio Holmes. He added 26 yards on four scrambles. He completed passes to five different receivers, but had two costly interceptions (one when the Steelers recovered a Arizona fumble on their Cardinals' four yard line, the other on a drive trying to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.) He was sacked four times as well.
| RB Willie Parker, Rush: 19 - 37 - 0, Rec: 4 - 29 - 0 (4 targets) |
Parker had no room to run against the Cardinals defensive front finishing with only 37 yards on 19 carries. His longest run was for 20 yards. He added 29 more yards on four pass receptions. 14 of Parker's 19 rushes went for less than three yards each.
| RB Najeh Davenport, Rush: 2 - 15 - 0 (2 targets) |
Both Davenport runs came on third and long situations.
| WR Santonio Holmes, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0, Rec: 6 - 128 - 2 (11 targets) |
Holmes was the Steelers' biggest offensive weapon catching six balls for 128 yards and two scores. His first touchdown came on a third and 26, when Roethlisberger found him deep down the left sideline. His second occurred with 1:54 to play on a leaping grab deep in the end zone. His rush came on a reverse that went for a one yard loss.
| WR Nate Washington, Rec: 2 - 18 - 0 (7 targets) |
Washington started the game in place of Hines Ward and caught two passes for 18 yards. He did have potential though as he was targeted seven times including twice deep down the right sideline.
| WR Willie Reid, Rec: 2 - 23 - 0 (2 targets) |
Reid caught both passes thrown his way, and was utilized when Pittsburgh went into a four wide receiver set.
| TE Heath Miller, Rec: 3 - 46 - 0 (6 targets) |
Miller hauled in three passes for 46 yards mainly up the middle of the Cardinals pass defense.
| PK Jeff Reed 0 - 0 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 2 points |
Reed converted both his extra point tries, but had no field goal opportunities.
| PIT Rush Defense |
The Steelers' rush defense began the game strong holding Edgerrin James to just 34 yards on 8 carries and shutting out the Cardinal offense in the first half. However, it appeared that they began to tire late in the second half as they gave up a long 13-play, 82 yard drive capped off by a two yard Edgerrin James touchdown run. That drive consumed seven minutes and 19 seconds of the fourth quarter. The defense held the Cardinal offense to a total of 86 rushing yards for the game, and 302 yards total offense. They forced three fumbles and recovered two of them.
| PIT Pass Defense |
The pass defense started strong and blitzed starting quarterback Matt Leinart often. They held Leinart to only two for six for 17 yards before being replaced by Kurt Warner. The Cardinals had only 104 yards passing at the half.
In the second half, the Steelers' pass defense was hampered when two defensive starters left the game due to injuries. Safety Troy Polamalu (abdominal strain) and nose tackle Casey Hampton (hamstring) both left and didn't return. Without the two starters, the defense gave up one touchdown catch in the third quarter, and were victimize by the play of Larry Fitzgerald, who had eight receptions for 85 yards in the second half alone. In all, the Steelers' pass defense gave up 225 yards in the air. They had no interceptions.
| QB Kurt Warner, Pass: 14 - 21 - 132 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 0 - 0 |
Warner replaced Leinart with 4:56 left in the second quarter under Coach Whisenhunt's two quarterback platoon system. Utilizing mainly a no huddle offense and four receiver sets, Warner completed 14 passes for 132 yards including a six yard touchdown pass to reserve wide receiver Jerheme Urban to tie the game 7-7. He was accurate as he completed passes to three different receivers but showed an affinity for Fitzgerald. Although held scoreless in the first half, Warner displayed good command of the no huddle scheme and provided an offensive spark to the Cardinals leading them on a nine play, 70 yard drive capped off with the Urban touchdown in the third period.
| QB Matt Leinart, Pass: 7 - 14 - 93 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 9 - 0 |
Leinart started slowly completing only four of his first ten passes for 39 yards and he was sacked once. He was replaced by Warner with 4:56 left in the first half, and didn't return until the 11:33 mark of the fourth quarter. On his first play in the second half, he completed a pretty 38 yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald. That completion started a 13 play, 82 yard drive that gave the Cardinals' a 21-7 lead. Leinart finished the game seven for 14 for 93 yards with no interceptions.
| RB Edgerrin James, Rush: 21 - 77 - 1, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (2 targets) |
James found the running tough against a strong Steelers' front seven. His longest run of the day was just nine yards. His runs were mainly up the middle and the yardage hard earned. 18 of James' 21 carries came on first and second downs. He scored on a two yard run to tie the score 7-7.
| RB Marcel Shipp (3 targets) |
Shipp was targeted with three short passes, but did not record a run. He was injured in the second quarter and did not return to the game. It was reported that Shipp had a rib injury.
| WR Larry Fitzgerald, Rec: 11 - 123 - 0 (13 targets) |
Fitzgerald was the Cardinals' leading receiver with 123 yards on 11 catches. He was more in touch with Kurt Warner than with Leinart, although he did catch a nice 38 yard reception from Leinart in the fourth quarter. Fitzgerald was utilized mainly on crossing routes. He was held without a touchdown. Fitzgerald did have a turnover when the Pittsburgh defense stripped the ball from him after a catch.
| WR Jerheme Urban, Rec: 5 - 53 - 1 (6 targets) |
Urban had an efficient game with five catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Urban, a free agent who signed with the Cardinals earlier this year, caught his touchdown from Warner on a third and four from the Pittsburgh six yard line.
| WR Bryant Johnson, Rec: 3 - 37 - 0 (7 targets) |
Johnson played in place of the injured Anquan Boldin and hauled in three catches for 37 yards. He ran mainly deep routes in the four receiver Cardinal offensive scheme.
| WR Steve Breaston |
Punt return specialist Steve Breaston had 101 return yards and one touchdown. It was Breaston's first career touchdown and the Cardinals first punt return for a touchdown since 1993.
| WR Anquan Boldin |
Was inactive due to his injured hip.
| TE Troy Bienemann (1 targets) |
Bienemann also had one pass thrown his way, but in this game the tight ends did not figure into the Cardinal game plan.
| TE Leonard Pope (1 targets) |
Pope had only one target in the game.
| PK Neil Rackers 0 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 3 points |
Rackers missed his first field goal attempt a (52 yard try) to end the first half. He connected on all three of his extra points.
| ARI Rush Defense |
The Cardinals' rush defense kept Parker in check the entire game, keeping the talented runner to only 37 yards on 19 carries. As a team, the Steelers had only 77 yards rushing with 0 touchdowns. In 2007, no opposing running back has rushed for more than 100 yards on the Cardinals; those runners include Frank Gore, Willis McGahee and Shaun Alexander.
| ARI Pass Defense |
Although the pass defense gave up 244 yards and two scores, they played well when it counted. Many of Roethlisberger's passing yards came in the fourth quarter when the Steelers abandoned the run to play catch up. Holmes' first touchdown came on a third and 26 play when Holmes got behind the secondary in the corner of the end zone. His second came on a spectacular catch deep over the middle late in the fourth quarter. The passing defense held the Steelers to converting only five of 15 third down opportunities. Among the biggest plays came in the third quarter with the game tied 7-7 when Pittsburgh recovered a Cardinal fumble on the Arizona four yard line. After two unsuccessful runs, the Cardinals' Adrian Wilson picked off a Roethlisberger to Miller pass for a touchback preventing the Steelers' from capitalizing on the turnover. The defense recorded four sacks, three of which went to defensive tackle Darnell Dockett and had two interceptions.
