The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Green Bay Packers, 23-19, to advance to 6-3 on the season. Both teams traded blows early with an opening-drive touchdown by the Steelers and a quick touchdown in response by the Packers. The biggest point margin of the game was a 10-point lead by the Steelers in the first quarter, but otherwise it was a one-score game throughout. In these one-score games, you can usually go back and circle a small handful of plays that swung the outcome.
One play that can be cited as a turning point in this game is the incomplete pass toward the end of the first half. It was ruled incomplete on the field, but the Packers’ head coach, Matt LaFleur threw his challenge flag questioning whether it was a forward pass. RB Jaylen Warren was targeted on the play, but he didn’t catch the ball. If it had been ruled a backward pass, the Packers would have had the ball deep in the Steelers’ end. That would have given the Packers the ball down just four points with a virtually guaranteed field goal and possibly a touchdown. After review, the officiating crew ruled it an incomplete forward pass.
LaFleur was asked about challenging the ruling on the field of a forward pass in his postgame press availability.
“I thought it was pretty clear to me, but somebody else felt differently, so I guess that’s the way it is. I guess I was wrong,” he said via the Packers’ YouTube channel.
Take a look at the play.
There was an added element to the play because the refs were a little quick with their whistle. The whistles were blowing right after the pass was dropped, before the potential fumble was recovered. Rashan Gary ended up scooping the ball for the Packers and diving for the end zone.
There were many possible outcomes for this play during review, but ultimately it was the best possible call for the Steelers. CBS Sports rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with the ruling while Ian Eagle and Charles Davis were more aligned with LaFleur. Ultimately with it being so close, they didn’t have enough evidence to confidently overrule, and it would have been a mess trying to figure out what to do with the play since it was whistled dead by the referees.
Steratore took to Twitter to explain why the call was so close, noting that the refs piece together the play from multiple angles to reach a conclusion.
Nobody scored the rest of the half and with the Packers getting the ball back to start the second half, a field goal or touchdown could have changed the complexion of this game down the stretch.
