The 'Stop' and the 'Drive' fueled the Arizona Cardinals to victory over Pittsburgh Steelers

The Arizona Cardinals needed something to happen, anything that could give them a boost or a jolt. It was just a little more than two minutes into the second quarter against the Steelers on Sunday and nothing was really going their way in Pittsburgh.

They had only mustered 26 yards of total offense, they were tied at 3, and not even the weather was cooperating as a cold front set in, the winds began to blow, and heavy rain was on the way.

Then came a monumental effort from the Arizona defense, immediately followed by an equally impressive showing from the Cardinals’ offense to flip the script, change the game and set the wheels in motion toward an unexpected 24-10 victory.

It began with the “Stop,” when the defense halted a 12-play, 75-yard Steelers’ drive by stuffing running back Najee Harris a yard short of the end zone on fourth and goal. Defensive end Kevin Strong flew off the line of scrimmage, met Harris head on, and brought him down to complete the goal line stand.

“I just knew we had one yard, I just had to come out of my stance, and I couldn’t get pushed back,” Strong said Monday from the team’s Tempe training facility. “I just came out with everything I had and made the tackle.”

Then it was time for the “Drive.”

The Cardinals took over with 4:51 left in the half and from their own 1-yard line, drove 99 yards on 15 plays, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to tight end Trey McBride. Despite a heavy downpour, they were 5 for 5 on third down attempts – their most during a single drive since 2001 – and it was their second touchdown drive of 99 yards this season – the first time in at least 45 years the franchise has done that in the same season.

Murray completed 6 of 8 passes for 71 yards during the drive and McBride caught four of them for 49 yards, including the touchdown that gave Arizona the lead for good. The Cardinals would later turn a fumble recovery into the first of two second-half rushing touchdowns by James Conner (25 carries, 105 yards), but it was a goal-line stand and ensuing 99-yard drive that proved to be the story of the game.

“That was crazy,” Strong said of drive after he was in on three defensive stops during the stand. “You know K1 can get the job done anytime he gets the chance to, so it was cool to see them go down and do what they have to do. For us to be able to make that stop as a defense, I think it was a game changer.”

Did it save their season? No, of course not. Even with the win, the Cardinals are just 3-10 entering their off week and at present, they’re on track to pick third overall when the 2024 NFL draft rolls around.

But here’s the point: On an utterly dreary day toward the end of what has been a grueling and dreary year for this franchise, the Cardinals didn’t roll over and play dead at Acrisure Stadium. They could have and not many folks outside of Arizona would have cared. But this team doesn’t know how to quit, which is a stark contrast to former Cardinals clubs, even in recent history.

Even during two lengthy game delays because of inclement weather, first at halftime, then midway through the third quarter, the Cardinals never lost their energy or intensity. If anything, the back-to-back sequence of the defensive stand and subsequent drive only intensified their will.

“Yeah, I would say it did,” Strong said. “Even through the delays and stuff we were all in the locker room just ready to get back out and play. We were ready. The energy was crazy – in the locker room, coming back out on the field – it never changed. It stayed through the whole game with the delays and everything else. Everybody’s energy was just top tier.”

The atmosphere was so enthusiastic, Strong said, that nobody even sat down during the two delays. The team was listening to music and players were so fired up, he said, that “guys were talking about, ‘We could do the Oklahoma drill in the locker room if you want to.’

“We were just ready to get back to playing football. Being around a team like that, an environment like that, it makes you want to play with guys like that. It was great to see.”

Murray, now 2-2 since returning from his knee surgery, was just as impressed.

“I'm super proud of the guys,” he said afterward, adding of the team’s emotions during the delays, “The mentality, coming out, coming back out, coming out, coming back in, they were all geeked up ready to go. There was no expectation other than coming out of here with a win, so to do that in a hostile environment that this is, great team, this is a huge win.”

The Cardinals can enjoy it for the rest of this week as many of them begin to head out of town to spend time with family and friends. But when they return from the bye, they better hope they’ve bottled up some of that energy and juice and saved it for the game looming ahead a week from Sunday against the visiting NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers lead the division at 9-3, are one of the strongest teams in the league and have crushed the Cardinals three straight times by an average score of 37-13.

“You’ve just got to keep your head down, keep working. It’s your job,” Strong said when asked what the team’s mindset needs to be going in and coming out of the bye. “You’ve just got to work through it. I mean, we’re grateful to finally have some time off. We’ve got to get some guys back, get through some injuries, so it’ll be a good thing to take the bye off and come back good and finish the season off.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals look to keep momentum in bye week