Late in the first half the Pittsburgh Steelers were set to make it a 9-6 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kicker Chris Boswell drilled a 56-yard field goal, but a flag for “offsides” on the offense wiped out the field goal, leading to Boswell then missing from 61 yards, sending the two teams into the half at 9-3 in favor of Jacksonville.
That was largely just part of some atrocious officiating, which had head coach Mike Tomlin not pleased after the game, wide receiver Diontae Johnson opening up on the officiating crew of Alan Eck, and even veteran guard Isaac Seumalo with some pointed words regarding the crew.
Speaking with reporters from inside the locker room, Seumalo stated that he didn’t do anything wrong on the field goal try, lining up in the same spot he’s lined up in “for the last eight years.” He said that he expects the officiating crew will send a “nice little apology” to the Steelers later in the week, which he sarcastically said will make him feel better.
“I feel like I lined up in the same spot I did for the last eight years,” Seumalo said to reporters inside the locker room after the loss, according to a tweet from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Tim Benz.
In a follow-up comment, Seumalo said that the officials obviously saw something different.
“Obviously, the referees saw something different. I’m sure in couple of days we will get a nice little apology. That will warm my heart,” Seumalo added, according to a Tweet from 93.7 The Fan.
What a mess.
You never want to be pointing fingers coming out of a tough loss like that, especially at the referees, but it’s hard not to after how awful the officiating was Sunday.
Granted, both teams finished with six penalties on the day, but it was the type of penalties, the moments they were called and what rules were and were not enforced that has the Steelers quite upset.
As Mike Tomlin stated after the game, he’s never seen an “offsides” call on the field goal protection unit in his 17 years as a head coach. Seumalo’s comments largely echo that. He’s an eight-year veteran in the NFL and has been part of field goal protection his entire career. He had never been called for offsides.
Until today.
With how poor the officiating was on Sunday, chances are there will be some sort of review that comes out in the ensuing days that states the officiating crew got that offsides call wrong on the field goal try. The NFL might even state that the refs erred on both the roughing the passer against Trevor Lawrence earlier in the game and the non-call against Kenny Pickett that led to his injury late in the first half, too.
But those won’t mean a darn thing to the Steelers, who suffered a tough loss and now have a short week to turn around and get ready for the Tennessee Titans coming into town.
