Another big spot, another awful penalty called on the special teams unit of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Trailing 21-18 and looking to draw the New England Patriots offsides, the Steelers’ punt team appeared to do just that. Linebacker Jahlani Tavai jumped offsides on 4th and three, moving the chains for the Steelers and keeping a crucial drive alive.
But officials called a false start on Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz, making it 4th and eight, leading to a punt from Pressley Harvin III as the boos rained down at Acrisure Stadium.
Take a look for yourself.
Where’s the false start?
Your guess is as good as mine.
According to Amazon Prime rules analyst Terry McAulay, the officials said it was a “quick and abrupt” movement. McAulay disagreed with the call, saying that Kuntz’s movement is one you see all the time on snaps.
“That looks like normal movement you see from a long snapper,” McAulay said on the Amazon broadcast.
Color analyst Kirk Herbstreit agreed, calling it a bad call.
That’s the second time the Steelers have been burned by an awful special teams penalty. In Week Eight against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Acrisure Stadium, left guard Isaac Seumalo was called for offsides on a 56-yard Chris Boswell field goal in the rain right before the half. The flag wiped out the field goal and forced Boswell to try from 61 yards, which he missed. That came in a 20-10 loss to the Jaguars.
