Facing a 2nd and 2 from the Cincinnati 15-yard line late in the first quarter, it appeared that second-year Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Kenny Pickett ripped a 15-yard pass between two Bengals defenders for a touchdown to wide receiver Diontae Johnson, giving the Steelers an early lead.
However, Johnson was unable to hang onto the football as he went to the ground, leading to officials ruling the pass incomplete in the back of the end zone.
One play later, running back Jaylen Warren fumbled the football away, keeping points off the board for the Steelers. Shortly after the incompletion and then the fumble, former NFL official Gene Steratore appeared on CBS and stated that the Steelers should have challenged the play as Johnson had three steps with possession of the football in the end zone, which should have been a touchdown.
Fortunately for the Steelers, the non-challenge and fumble didn’t come back to hurt them as Pittsburgh picked up a 16-10 win on the road, cracking 400 yards of total offense for the first time in 58 games.
After the win, Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin stated that he lost sight of the play in the end zone and didn’t get a second look at it in-stadium, which led to him not challenging the play.
“Because they [officials] were definitive and I lost vision of it. There was people between me and him. I couldn’t count steps,” Tomlin said to reporters after the win over the Bengals, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “They didn’t give us another look at it in-stadium, and we couldn’t get a quick enough look at it up top. Sometimes that happens when you’re on the road.
“Some games being on the road, some games being at home, those things even out in the big scheme of things.”
Tomlin’s explanation certainly makes sense. But for a guy who is quick to challenge big plays that occur against the Steelers even without a clear second look, not challenging a play in the end zone that would have been a touchdown, instead waiting for a second look and not trusting his player in Johnson, who was emphatic that he caught the ball, was strange to say the least.
It was a big swing in the game as the Bengals kept the Steelers off the board. But in the end the Steelers were able to move past the non-challenge, picking up a much-needed win on the road after making some changes offensively.
