It isn’t often that you see a defensive player called for a delay of game penalty, but that is exactly what happened to Pittsburgh Steelers rookie CB Beanie Bishop Jr. against the Cleveland Browns on their final drive. The Browns were already well within field goal range, and it didn’t help them convert a fresh set of downs, so it wasn’t the most consequential penalty. But it was still an odd sequence with Bishop randomly punching the ball out after the play was over.
Bishop punched out the ball from WR Jerry Jeudy’s hand as he was walking it back to the official. He explained why he did that after the Steelers’ 24-19 loss.
“I didn’t see him touched down. I seen him hurry up and get up, so I was just trying to get the ball out,” Bishop said via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko on X.
After reviewing the play, Bishop might be correct. If the referees blew the play dead, then it doesn’t really matter, but he didn’t just do this out of the blue. He was trying to make a savvy play after not seeing Jeudy get downed by Minkah Fitzpatrick or Joey Porter Jr. The way that Jeudy popped up off the ground also made it look like that he thought he hadn’t been downed.
This was after the Steelers accepted, then declined, then accepted again an illegal-touching penalty on 3rd down to give the Browns another attempt, so Bishop’s inconsequential penalty got lost in the shuffle.
I commend the rookie for using his head and trying to get the ball out with the game was quickly slipping away from the Steelers.
In hindsight, it might have been better if the Steelers had just let Jeudy score once he converted so they would have had more time on offense to put together a game-winning drive.
