5 things we learned in Steelers' win over Cardinals

Five things we learned from Steelers 23, Cardinals 17:

1. Picky defense

With three more takeaways — all coming on second-half interceptions — the Steelers increased their season total to 33, tops in the NFL.

It’s the most for the Steelers over the first 13 games since 1996 when they had 34. In all but two of the 13 games this season, the Steelers have accumulated multiple takeaways.

Joe Haden had his first multi-interception game in three seasons with the Steelers, and his four interceptions this year are one more than he totaled in 2017-18 combined. Haden’s first interception stopped a drive at the Steelers 23 and came with the Steelers holding a 13-10 lead midway through the third quarter.

T.J. Watt’s interception in the end zone came after the Cardinals had a fourth-and-2 at the Steelers 6. Haden’s game-sealing pick came when Kyler Murray attempted a fourth-down desperation pass toward midfield.

A year after finishing with a franchise-low eight interceptions, the Steelers are at 18 picks — and counting.

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2. Seeing double

By getting another sack, outside linebacker Bud Dupree increased his season total to 9.5, a career high for the fifth-year player who will be a free agent in March.

Dupree inched closer to Watt, who continues to lead the Steelers with 12.5 sacks. And Dupree is one-half sack away from giving the Steelers a pair of players with double digits in sacks since 2010 when James Harrison (10.5) and LaMarr Woodley (10) did it.

Another stat of note: With 22 combined sacks, Watt and Dupree are the first Steelers tandem to get that many quarterback takedowns over the first 13 games since Harrison had 15 and Woodley added 11.5 in 2008.

Watt and Dupree are part of a defense that leads the NFL with 48 sacks. That’s thanks to four more against the Cardinals, with Mark Barron, Cameron Heyward and Vince Williams also adding to the burgeoning collection.

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3. Sharing the carries

The Steelers gave the Cardinals a variety of looks in the backfield, starting with their opening series.

Four running backs were involved on the 13-play drive that consumed eight minutes and ended with Chris Boswell’s 30-yard field goal. Jaylen Samuels, who got the start, had the initial carry. Then it was Kerrith Whyte’s turn for 13 yards, followed by Samuels again. Trey Edmunds caught a third-down pass that led to a first down on an unnecessary roughness call against the Cardinals.

Benny Snell got the next three carries, Samuels ran one more time and quarterback Devlin Hodges got into the act with a 6-yard scramble.

Snell led the Steelers with 16 rushing attempts, with Samuels getting seven and Whyte five. Hodges also ran five times for 34 yards as the Steelers finished with 140 rushing yards — a figure that included Jordan Berry’s 8-yard loss on a botched fake punt.

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4. Early achievers

Nobody would confuse the Steelers with being quick starters this season — at least not on offense.

For the first 12 games, the Steelers had scored on just one opening drive. And that was in Week 3 when a Watt interception at the San Francisco 33 set up a Boswell 46-yard field goal.

The streak of futility ended against the Cardinals with another Boswell field goal, this one from 30 yards. This opening scoring drive, however, was achieved honestly and without a defensive takeaway providing prime real estate.

On this march, the Steelers began at their 22 and got four first downs, including a pair of third-down conversions.

Entering the game next Sunday against Buffalo, the Steelers will try to snap another streak by getting a touchdown on their opening possession. The last time that happened? Last December against New England, which was 16 games ago.

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5. False positives

Calling it “negligence,” coach Mike Tomlin was disturbed by the number of presnap penalties the Steelers incurred the previous week against Cleveland. Of the 10 penalties the Steelers committed against the Browns, six were for false starts, including two against tight end Vance McDonald. They also threw in an illegal formation for good measure.

The Steelers cleaned up their mistakes in the week between games. Just one false start was committed against the Cardinals, and that wasn’t until 2 minutes, 16 seconds remained in the game when left tackle Alejandro Villanueva moved early.

Villanueva’s penalty made for a third-and-13 situation, but Hodges improvised and threw a cross-body, 17-yard completion to Diontae Johnson. The Steelers finished off the drive with Boswell’s third field goal for a 23-17 lead.

The Steelers more than cut their number of penalties in half from the previous week, getting called for four infractions for just 20 yards.

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