Though the Pittsburgh Steelers have no one to blame but themselves for their 21-18 loss to the New England Patriots Thursday night, it was clear one important call didn’t go their way.
Lining up to punt on 4th and 3 with five minutes left in a 21-18 game, it seemed clear and obvious that a Patriots player jumped offsides. If called, it would’ve been a five-yard penalty and first down for Pittsburgh with a chance to drive down the field and get into Chris Boswell’s field goal range.
After the flag was thrown, Steelers players jumped around. Punter Pressley Harvin III nearly came out of his shoes. Even the Patriots acted like the call was on them, showing their frustration and not even making an attempt to blame the other side. But the head official’s call was that LS Christian Kuntz illegally bobbed his head and called him for a false start. It was a call that stunned everyone. Pittsburgh’s players, New England’s players, Al Michaels in the broadcast booth, and Terry McAulay, the broadcast crew’s rule analyst who weighed in on the call. McAulay was crystal clear. This was the wrong decision.
“They’re saying he made a quick and abrupt movement prior to the snap,” McAulay said. “I don’t see this as quick and abrupt. Obviously, it’s subjective but this looks like normal movement that we see from the long snapper. I think this should’ve been on the defense.”
McAulay was an NFL ref for decades, beginning in 1998 and officiating through the 2018 season before becoming a rules analyst for NBC and, beginning last year, Amazon’s Thursday night broadcast. It’s not often to hear a former official be so clearly critical of the current crew. There’s a level of respect and grace they give those guys, so for McAulay to come out this strongly with hardly any wiggle room is notable.
Here’s a look at the call. Yes, Kuntz moves his head but that’s standard of every long snap in the history of long snaps. The snapper looking through his legs to get the signal of when to snap, typically from the up-man, and then picking his head up so he can block once he’s snapped the football.
“I thought it was a first down for us,” Kuntz told the media via Steelers.com. “That’s when I looked up that he jumped offsides. I looked up and I thought it was the first down for us.”
It was a shocking call that turned a would-be 1st and 10 into a 4th and 8. Pittsburgh punted the ball away and the Patriots took over. New England quickly went three-and-out and the Steelers got the ball back still with the chance to at least tie. They squandered their chance, and the loss falls on them, not the refs, but this was a brutal miss by the officiating crew.
