Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell were flagged for an excessive celebration following a touchdown in Thursday night’s win over the Indianapolis Colts and that penalty ultimately led to their opponent scoring a touchdown on a short field. During his Tuesday interview on 93.7 The Fan, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was asked about Brown’s celebration penalty and if anyone on the team has talked to him about it.
“Yeah, we did,” Roethlisberger said. “I knew that that was going to happen at some point because I think it was like the first game of the year, the Washington game, AB and DeAngelo [Williams] did their little dance as they were coming off the field and ref kind of said something.
“I forget if he said something to me, or said something to them, and I said, ‘Hey guys, you just got to be careful because I know you’re kind of coming off the field, it’s not a part of the attention, but they’re going to get you for it.’ And they kind of looked at me like, ‘Really?'”
Roethlisberger went on to say that head coach Mike Tomlin brought up the celebration penalty during a Monday team meeting and referenced him as saying that’s a huge penalty that the team can’t take.
“We put our kick cover team in a bad situation and we can’t have it,” Roethlisberger quoted Tomlin as saying.
Roethlisberger was later asked if he thinks officials are put on notice when it comes to Brown and him celebrating in the end zone after scores and especially when it comes to primetime games.
“I know for a fact that he [Brown] scored touchdowns in one o’clock games that aren’t the big prime time games and they haven’t flagged him,” Roethlisberger said. “So I just think it was him and it was L.Bell on Thanksgiving and everybody’s watching, I think they were on notice.”
During his Tuesday press conference, Tomlin was asked if he indeed talked to the team again about post-score celebrations following the game against the Colts..
“You know I didn’t,” said Tomlin. “We’ve already discussed and discussed it wholey. Obviously, we had a setback in that area, but I don’t think it requires additional discussion.”
Well, there you go. Roethlisberger says Tomlin talked about celebrations on Monday and the head coach denied he addressed the topic on Tuesday. Whatever the case, hopefully we won’t see any more of these unnecessary penalties moving forward.
The Steelers will once again play in primetime this coming Sunday when they host the New York Giants at Heinz Field and if Roethlisberger’s suspicions are indeed correct, Brown better be careful should he ultimately score in that game.
