After Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons tackled Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce for a two-yard gain on 3rd and 16 with 12:39 left in the fourth quarter, cornerback William Gay was flagged for taunting at the conclusion of the play. The drive subsequently stayed alive and ultimately culminated in the Chiefs third field goal of the game. After the game, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked if ever got an explanation from the officials on the taunting call.
“I don’t even want to get into that. I really don’t. Ridiculous,” said Tomlin.
As you can see in the animated gif below, Gay doesn’t taunt Kelce. Instead, he folded his arms as if to admire the play that Timmons made.
Not long after Gay was penalized for taunting, former NFL Vice President of Officiating and current rules analyst at FOX Sports, Mike Pereira, chimed in on Twitter with his thoughts.
Just saw taunting call in PIT what in the world did #22 do?! Posing like that NOT a foul – was there something else TV cams didnt pickup?
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) December 21, 2014
After the game, Gay took the high road when asked about being flagged for taunting. According to Scott Brown of ESPN.com, Gay told the media that he doesn’t fault the referees for penalizing him as they have a tough job. He also added that he should not have put them in the position to even make that call.
W Gay does not fault refs for taunting penalty called against him. Said they have tough job; he should not have put them in that position.
— Scott Brown (@ScottBrown_ESPN) December 21, 2014
It will be interesting to see if current NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino addresses this in his weekly recap. I’m betting that he won’t.
