The Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to have a touchdown. Until they didn’t. With an offense looking improved and more fluid under interim coaches Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan, QB Kenny Pickett hit WR Diontae Johnson in the back of the end zone for a potential touchdown in Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. But rookie CB D.J. Turner poked the ball out at the very end, leading to the refs to rule an incompletion.
Pittsburgh did not challenge the call and proceeded to 3rd and 2. RB Jaylen Warren was stopped short of the sticks and worse, fumbled the ball away to the Bengals.
After the sequence, former NFL ref and current CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore said Johnson had done enough to score on the play. And he’s surprised Pittsburgh did not challenge.
Speaking with CBS announcers Ian Eagle and Charles Davis, Steratore believes Johnson had all the requirements for a catch. Possession and three steps. And because the play was made in the end zone, as soon as Johnson meets all those prongs, it’s automatically a touchdown.
“I was a little surprised Pittsburgh did not challenge this…in my opinion, Diontae Johnson gets his third foot down with possession upright in the end zone. That would constitute checking the box on all three elements of the catch and the ball is dead immediately,” Steratore said on the CBS broadcast.
He noted there is no “surviving the ground” element in a situation like this.
He later tweeted a fuller explanation of the play.
But Pittsburgh did not challenge and one play later, Warren fumbled the football away.
While Johnson may have caught the ball by NFL standards, he can’t let the corner knock the ball out. Don’t give the ref any thought of ruling this incomplete. It’s been a tough quarter for Johnson, running backwards after a reception, having that play ruled incomplete, and standing around after Warren fumbled the ball, perhaps not realizing it was on the turf.
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are scoreless at the end of the first quarter.
