The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Buffalo Bills on Monday afternoon in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. The final score was 31-17, and at one point the Steelers found themselves down 21-0 in the first half. They closed the gap in the second half, pulling within seven points, but quickly allowed another score to put the game out of reach.
There were a handful of questionable penalties, or no-calls, that affected certain outcomes within the game. On Thursday, DE Cameron Heyward released his weekly podcast Not Just Football on NFL on ESPN’s YouTube Channel and discussed the officiating with his co-host, Hayen Walsh.
Walsh was careful not to put any words in Heyward’s mouth as the nature of criticizing referees can draw unwanted attention from the NFL league office in the form of fines. Walsh listed off a number of grievances on the officiating from the playoff loss and then concluded his statements saying, “the officiating was tragic in that game.”
“Yeah, it was tragic,” Heyward agreed with a laugh. “But, that’s your opinion, and I support your opinion.”
He is not the first player from the team to either directly or indirectly criticize the referees from the game. WR George Pickens was very open about it, saying “you can’t play the Bills and the refs at the same time,” in a clip posted by The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo.
There was also Myles Jack—who took full responsibility for the penalties—but acknowledged that his late hit on QB Josh Allen’s slide was a a product of a perceived fake slide for a 52-yard touchdown run earlier in the game.
That penalty is understandable, but it is also frustrating for a defensive player who is left wondering what they are supposed to do.
“I don’t know what you’re supposed to do as a defender,” Heyward continued. “Myles Jack takes it into his hands and he is like, I have to go for him because he’s not giving himself up all the time. So I think we look to protect quarterbacks…but man, you’re taking away from the game when you do that.”
There was also a critical no-call on a dangerous block in the back delivered to Joey Porter Jr. He had to exit the game with a concussion and it was on a critical third down late in the game. A penalty flag certainly could have helped the Steelers in that situation.
Nobody, except maybe Pickens, is outright blaming the refs for the loss, but even defensive captain Heyward agrees the officiating was “tragic.”
