The Pittsburgh Steelers have delivered some of their most impactful special teams play in recent memory. In a four-week span, they have blocked two field goals and a punt and returned a punt for a touchdown. Many wondered if that touchdown should have counted, Jeremiah Moon appearing to have run into the punter.
Moon told Tim Benz that the officials gave him the okay, however. “They said I didn’t roll or anything. I went for the block. I just stopped, and [punter Matt Haack] just fell over me”.
Moon did connect with the plant leg of the Giants’ punter, but not egregiously so. In fact, Haack’s plant leg moved about a yard closer to the Steelers outside linebacker from the start of the kick. One could argue that it was the punter doing the running into.
“I mean, [the official] was standing right there”, Moon insisted in defending the Steelers’ non-penalty on the critical touchdown. “He would’ve made the right call if I would’ve roughed the punter. I didn’t hear anything from the punter or anyone. I think it was clean”.
Jeremiah Moon is in his first season with the Steelers, previously spending time with the Baltimore Ravens. While he played sparingly, he made an impact against the Steelers in 2023, forcing two fumbles, including one on a punt return.
Moon blocked a punt in Week 6 against the Las Vegas Raiders, the first of his football life. The Steelers took over at the Raiders’ 9-yard line, but they went backwards. Initially, it looked as though they scored, but QB Justin Fields was flagged for an illegal forward pass. Instead, they settled for a field goal.
But Steelers ST coordinator Danny Smith saw something in Moon on the punt rush and gave him the opportunity. He is glad he didn’t quite get home on this one, though, thanks to Calvin Austin III. The third-year receiver is a dangerous returner, and he finally housed one on that play.
While Moon didn’t really get blocked into the punter, he also controlled his rush. Had Haack not sharply pivoted in the Steelers defender’s direction, he may have fell harmlessly at his feet. The smart punters know how to take these types of hits in the hopes of drawing a penalty. But that is why officiating crews have to be diligent about not automatically throwing flags when a punter is on the ground.
According to the NFL rulebook, running into a kicker is not a penalty if the contact “is caused by the kicker’s own motions”. You can see above that Haack moved significantly in the Steelers defender’s direction. And Moon, as he said, made no attempts to roll through the contact, instead lying still. So because the Giants punter caused the contact by virtue of his post-kick body shift, it appears the officials correctly called no foul on the Steelers.
