The Sports Xchange

The Arizona Cardinals’ two losses this season have come in similar fashion.

They committed three turnovers in each, didn’t force any and were awful in the red zone: scoring two touchdowns in nine red zone opportunities.

“It was like déjà vu from St. Louis,” Coach Bruce Arians said on Monday, a day after the Cardinals lost to the Steelers, 25-13. “Dropped interception, jump offsides and give them a free play; offensively, miscommunication on the red zone plays when we’re wide open and either get pressured, or don’t throw a hot and not communicate it. So both of those games, they’re identical. It was us beating us.”

The similarities don’t end there. Despite playing poorly in both games, the Cardinals had chances to win late. And both times, quarterback Carson Palmer failed in the clutch.

Against St. Louis, he sailed passes on third and fourth down deep in Rams’ territory. Against the Steelers, he had a pass intercepted in the end zone with the Cardinals trailing 18-13.

In a postgame interview, Palmer used various forms of the word “frustrated” four times.

“I’m just frustrated, being here and having a chance to go down there and win the game at the end,” he said. “When you don’t win it, it’s obviously very frustrating. It’s one of those things where you can’t let it fester. We will look at it, move on. We have a lot of football to play.”

The blame for the losses isn’t all on Palmer. Nor are the red-zone failures.

It’s the biggest problem the Cardinals have faced in their losses. In four victories, they scored touchdowns in 16 of 17 red-zone opportunities. In the two losses, two of nine.

“Our issues on offense are pretty simple to me,” said receiver Larry Fitzgerald after the loss to the Steelers. “We just have to be more effective in the red zone. If we are scoring touchdowns and we put 30 points on the board, we walk out of here with a win. So it is not a lot of problems we have to fix; it is just one glaring one.”

REPORT CARD VS. STEELERS

PASSING OFFENSE: C. Carson Palmer passed for 421 yards but the Cardinals got very little out of it. They scored just one touchdown in four red-zone opportunities. Palmer had a pass intercepted in the end zone in the final minutes.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D. The Cardinals ran just six times for nine yards in the second half. They were hampered by turnovers, penalties and just plain bad blocking. It was the worst performance of the year.

PASS DEFENSE: D. Landry Jones, the Steelers’ third-team quarterback completed 8 of 12 for 168 yards and two touchdowns after entering the game in the third quarter. The Cardinals did not pressure him and they allowed Martavis Bryant to take a short pass 88 yards for a touchdown.

RUSH DEFENSE: C-minus. It was excellent in the first half and not so great in the second. Le’Veon Bell gained 59 of his 88 yards in the second half when the Steelers needed him most. Mike Vick scrambled for another 47 yards.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C. Nothing special. David Johnson did a decent job on kick returns but bobbled a couple, too. Kicker Chandler Catanzaro missed a 47-yarder.

COACHING: C. Both losses this year have come in the final minutes. The Cardinals won those games last year, so that’s a concern. The Steelers were able to move the ball in the second half, just as the Rams did in the Cardinals first loss.