Cardinals vs. Steelers: Postgame Grades, Notes and Quotes for Arizona

The Arizona Cardinals were their own worst enemy in a 25-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon.

Three turnovers, nine penalties costing them 111 yards and a missed field goal all contributed to the loss, which dropped Arizona's record to 4-2 on the season.

The turning point of the game seemed to come in the third quarter, when the Steelers lost quarterback Mike Vick to a hamstring injury. Third-stringer Landry Jones, in his first NFL appearance, ignited a previously stagnant Pittsburgh offense.

Jones led the Steelers to a touchdown and the lead in his first drive, and he would lead Pittsburgh's offense to points the next three times they took the field.

Any chance of a Cardinals comeback was eliminated when Carson Palmer was picked off in the end zone with Arizona trailing by five points. Two plays later, Martavis Bryant sealed the game for Pittsburgh with a touchdown on an 88-yard catch-and-run.

Despite the loss, Arizona remains firmly in control of the NFC West, leading the St. Louis Rams by 1.5 games.

Click ahead for the full game recap.

Position Grades for Arizona

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QB	C
RB	C-
WR	B+
TE	C
OL	C-
DL	B+
LB	C
DB	B
Special Teams	C
Coaching	C-

This game felt a lot like the loss to the Rams in Week 4, during which none of the units played poorly—they just gave back as many plays as they made.

We'll start with the offense.

On the whole, Arizona didn't have too many issues moving the ball, compiling 469 total yards. Save for John Brown's fumble, this was the best we've seen of Arizona's top three receivers, with Brown, Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd getting whatever they wanted against Pittsburgh's secondary. 

As expected, running the football was a challenge—one which the offensive line (and the coaches) didn't seem in the mood for. Arizona's backs carried the ball 18 times for 56 yards, getting stopped six times behind the line of scrimmage.

With Carson Palmer struggling, it's tough to say head coach Bruce Arians should've given the running game more time to get on track, but the question is at least worth asking.

We'll dive into Palmer's day in the next slide.

Defensively, Arizona's defense sparkled in the first half before collapsing following Mike Vick's injury. For whatever reason, it didn't seem ready to cope with a better thrower in Landry Jones, and it had no answers for Martavis Bryant.

The Cardinals bottled up Le'Veon Bell as well as anyone could hope for, permitting him to gain just 88 yards on 24 carries.

Markus Golden was OK in his first start, but we're far enough along in the season where it's time to acknowledge that if the Cardinals are going to get anything from their linebackers, it's going to come from Deone Bucannon.

Despite all the great work done in front of them, the linebackers can't seem to make any plays.

The big disappointment on Sunday was the performance of Arians and his staff. They entered the game with a solid enough game plan, but they had no answers once the game started slipping out of control. More could've been done to help Palmer, and the defense looked lost once Jones started hitting his receivers.

Carson Palmer Struggles

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Even ignoring the two interceptions and focusing on the 421 passing yards, Carson Palmer didn't have his greatest game. He consistently missed open receivers, meaning those numbers could've been gaudier.

Still, every athlete is going to have those days. Arizona is facing a very real problem with Palmer. It's not a big problem yet, but it's something that has to be addressed.

Going back to Week 1, Palmer has had a strange proclivity for throwing deep into double coverage, particularly when the intended target is John Brown. Pittsburgh might be only the second team to take advantage of this habit, but if it keeps up, it won't regularly go unpunished.

It's unclear whether Arians is directing his quarterback to be more aggressive than opposing defenses are allowing, but we've seen too many of these throws from Palmer for them to be a coincidence.

It's fine to give your receiver a chance to make a play, but do it against one-on-one coverage. Brown came up with two big grabs in those conditions on Sunday.

Palmer is too smart to keep putting the ball in harm's way. If Arizona is going to go far in the playoffs, he can't be that careless with the football.

Calais Campbell: Defense Wasn't Prepared for Landry Jones

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

According to Kyle Odegard of the Cardinals' official website, defensive end Calais Campbell said the team wasn't prepared to deal with backup quarterback Landry Jones.

"I thought when a third-string quarterback comes in, they were going to run the ball," he said. "It caught us off guard a bit."

That, frankly, is to be expected. Teams don't have enough time to prepare a second game plan in the event that the backup quarterback is forced into action.

It's very easy to look back in hindsight and say the Steelers would be able to open up the playbook with the better-throwing Jones in the game. The reality, however, is that Jones had yet to take a snap in the NFL. With Le'Veon Bell in the backfield, no one expected Jones to throw as often or as well as he did (8-of-12 passing, 168 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions).

What is worrisome is that it's hard to say the Cardinals would've fared any better if they had planned for Jones all along. In particular, defensive coordinator James Bettcher failed to dial up any kind of blitz that pressured the third-year quarterback.

Arizona can't keep relying on its talented secondary to produce plays on its own. The defense as a whole can't fold if those guys are getting beat, which was the case against Pittsburgh.

Fitzgerald: Offense Needs to Finish Drives

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

For the second time in three weeks, Arizona struggled to score inside the red zone, producing just one touchdown on the day.

According to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, Larry Fitzgerald said that's the reason the Cardinals lost the game. "Our issues on offense are pretty simple to me. We just have to be more effective in the red zone. Point blank, that’s where it stops," he said.

"If we are scoring touchdowns and we put 30 points on the board, we walk out of here with a win."

Fixing the issue might be easier said than done.

Just one week after it looked like they had a plan in the red zone—give the ball to David Johnson—the Cardinals lacked a true identity inside the opposition's 20-yard line.

Whether it's a matter of simplifying the playbook in those situations or coming up with clever solutions remains to be seen. What is clear, as Fitzgerald points out, is that the Cardinals need to play with the mindset of coming away with seven points once they're in the red zone.