Late in the first half of Sunday’s season opener, Pittsburgh Steelers’ star outside linebacker T.J. Watt appeared to make quite a splash play for the defense, something he’s done time and time again.
On a 1st and 10 from the 17-yard line, Watt appeared to time the snap perfectly, beat Atlanta right tackle Kaleb McGary around the edge and strip-sacked Falcons’ quarterback Kirk Cousins, recovering the fumble in the process in what appeared to be a huge late first-half play.
The only problem? The official called Watt offsides, negating the strip-sack and turnover.
One play later, Cousins found a wide open Kyle Pitts on a scramble drill for a 12-yard touchdown and a 10-6 Atlanta lead. The call had Watt irate, and rightfully so. It didn’t look like he was offsides.
Turns out, he wasn’t.
In a post-game, on-field interview with NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo shortly after Watt’s game-sealing sack of Cousins, the star pass rusher said that the official told him he messed up the first-half call after going into the half and looking at it on the monitor.
“Yeah, especially when the official says he messed it up after the first half he went in and saw it, so,” Watt said to Garafolo, according to video via NFL Network. “Glad to get the get-back. Honestly, more than anything, just happy Steeler Nation came out today, had him on a silent count at home.
“That’s very demoralizing for opposing offenses, and super happy to start the season with a win.”
The call was a rather brutal one. In today’s league, guys are trying to time up the snaps perfectly looking for an edge. Watt did quite a bit of film study on Atlanta center Drew Dalman, trying to find an edge in his body language when it comes to snapping the football. He appeared to find one.
But the official called him offsides, and it was a big swing in the game at that point.
It wasn’t obvious that Watt was offsides. In fact, when slowed down, it looked like Watt timed it perfectly.
Take a look for yourselves.
Doesn’t appear all that close, does it?
Watt appears to have been robbed of a sack and a forced fumble on the play, and it then led to a Falcons touchdown and a halftime lead. Fortunately, the Steelers were able to erase the deficit and pick up a big win on the road to open the season, and Watt was able to close the game in impressive fashion with a sack of Cousins to end the game.
But it might have never been that close if Watt’s second-quarter sack and fumble recovery would have stood.
The star pass rusher later had a sack taken away on a third down in the second half due to a hands to the face penalty on cornerback Donte Jackson, so theoretically he should have finished with three sacks.
At least the official admitted to the mistake after the fact, but it doesn’t change the mistake in-game. Officiating is a major problem around the NFL still, and Sunday’s game against the Steelers was a clear example of that, with the Watt strip-sack being wiped out a microcosm of that.
