Tim Benz: How do Steelers avoid ‘bad Tomlin loss’ to Cardinals? Listen to the coach

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six of their last seven games. They are about to go on the road to play an Arizona Cardinals team that has lost five in a row and is 3-8-1.

You can’t blame head coach Mike Tomlin for trying to prop up the opponent in an effort to discourage his team from getting overconfident.

Pause for a moment here. Let that last sentence wash over you.

The 7-5 Steelers — with a fourth-string quarterback and without starters at wide receiver, running back and defensive end — may be in a position now where overconfidence is a concern.

What sort of alternate football universe are we in?

Believe it, though. The Steelers are favorites on the road for Sunday’s game in Arizona. So it has all the earmarks of a “typical Tomlin bad loss.”

• Struggling opponent.

• On the road.

• Out west.

• Late season.

• While the team is still in a position to make the playoffs.

Are games against the Raiders and Broncos last year ringing any bells? Or against Baltimore with Ryan Mallett back in 2015?

In an effort to put his troops on high alert during his weekly press conference Tuesday, Tomlin spoke through those of us in the media. He was obviously preaching bullet points to his players, highlighting what they should be worried about when it comes to battling the struggling Cards.

Most importantly, Tomlin doesn’t want the Steelers to expect a slew of gifted turnovers, even though their defense has been creating them in bunches.

Yes, the Steelers defense has forced a league-leading 30 turnovers. However, ball security is a strength for the Cardinals. They’ve burped up a mere nine giveaways all year. Only the Green Bay Packers (8) and New Orleans Saints (7) have fewer.

Despite being a rookie, quarterback Kyler Murray hasn’t had a fumble and has thrown just six interceptions in 427 attempts. By comparison, benched Steelers QB Mason Rudolph had nine in 162 tries.

“Some of the things we’ve been able to hang our hat on and keep us in some ball games — particularly of late, turnovers — we better not anticipate that being available to us,” Tomlin said Tuesday.

The one defeat in this seven-game hot stretch for the Steelers was the 21-7 loss in Cleveland on Nov. 15. That night, the Steelers couldn’t get any turnovers, and they lost in large part because of that failure.

Tomlin also warned of Murray’s running ability.

“This guy is their leading rusher,” Tomlin said. “He is a dangerous guy. They’ve got designed runs. He extends plays. And he also gets chunks of yards via his legs.”

Yup. Murray has 446 yards on the ground. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson is the only quarterback with more (977).

That said, Murray has been sacked 41 times. That leads the NFL. So he can be brought down in the pocket before he gets loose.

Particularly by a Steelers defense with 43 sacks, third in the league.

On the other side of that coin, Tomlin stressed that we shouldn’t expect his team’s usually sound pass protection to be an automatic either. The Steelers have yielded just 19 sacks, the third fewest in the NFL.

But Arizona boasts pass rushers Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs who have combined for 18.5 sacks. Not bad when you consider the star pass-rushing bookends from the Steelers — T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree — have 21.

“Both guys are extremely ball aware,” Tomlin said. “Guys that will force fumbles. Guys that will sack the quarterback and dislodge the ball.

“We can’t start slow like we did against Cleveland and be down 10 points. Then you are tipping the scales in their favor. Guys like (Suggs) and (Jones) will seize the day if we do that.”

Tomlin also preached his concerns about rookie quarterback Devlin Hodges playing on the road, having played just six quarters of road football in the NFL.

Should he be concerned, though? During games in Los Angeles and Cincinnati this year, “Duck” was 20-of-31 for 250 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and two sacks.

“He has performed well in hostile environments, he just doesn’t have a big sample size,” Tomlin said.

But, c’mon. It’s Arizona. How hostile is it going to be? State Farm Stadium is likely to be almost as caked in black and gold as Paul Brown Stadium and Dignity Health Sports Park were.

The truth is, there is plenty of logic to every warning Tomlin advanced.

The truth is, the Steelers should win anyway.

Therefore, the truth is that Steelers fans should be scared to death that they won’t.

That’s what history under Tomlin in road games like this suggests.

So Tomlin’s biggest challenge shouldn’t be convincing us. He already sold me.

He better hope his players are just as willing to buy in.