Pittsburgh Steelers fans were not happy about the officiating in the game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. According to Mark Kaboly, neither were the players, and we did see some of that. Joey Porter Jr., for example, noted his belief that officials allowed WR A.J. Brown to push off. But there was a lot more going into it than that.
Three penalties in particular stuck out, not to mention a glaring non-penalty. We’ll start with the last one, for which there is no defense. Eleven minutes into the game, Steelers TE Darnell Washington and WR Calvin Austin III were both flagged for unnecessary roughness after a scuffle in the back of the end zone. The on-field and video officials both conveniently missed multiple Eagles players throwing punches, however. That this didn’t end with offsetting penalties is incredible, and it may have taken four points off the board. But that wasn’t the only officiating call Steelers players took issue with, according to Kaboly.
“I know some of the guys in the locker room were complaining about the Dan Moore [Jr.] holding, which was iffy”, he said. “They were complaining about—not publicly—the Zach Frazier tripping call, the difference between tripping and tripping over somebody’s feet. And that was a significant play there. There was complaining about Montravius Adams getting pushed into the long snapper”.
Moore, the Steelers’ left tackle, was flagged for holding at the end of the first quarter. It wiped out an 11-yard reception by Jaylen Warren on 2nd and 14, making it 2nd and 24. From their own 16 instead of seeing 3rd and 3 at the 37, it proved to be a big difference.
Looking at the play, you might be able to understand Moore’s gripe because it was an awkward sequence. He delivered a solid first punch before disengaging. The rusher then began to trip as a result of Moore’s rip move, but he was able to recover. Before Moore could sit him on the ground, he basically forced himself into a headlock. Unfortunately, you have to call that.
Up next was the Montravius Adams unnecessary roughness on the long snapper. The Eagles successfully connected on a 48-yard field goal on the play, but because of the call they burned an extra 1:50 of clock time before kicking another field goal.
On the play, Adams and his Steelers teammates argue that the left guard blocked him into the long snapper. In this situation, however, the onus is on the defensive player to avoid contact. Adams bowled over him while Dean Lowry did a better job of avoiding contact. I’m not sure they have a great argument here either.
So what about the Zach Frazier tripping penalty? Here, the Steelers had a six-yard run on 1st and 10 wiped out. Rather than 2nd and 4 from the Eagles’ 43, it was 2nd and 21 from their own 40. That’s a 17-yard swing, and they ended up punting on 4th and 22.
But did Frazier intentionally trip a defender? I’m not sure about intention, but the NFL rulebook doesn’t offer much detail. It simply says you can’t use your legs or feet to obstruct any opponent. By that definition, the Steelers were fairly penalized here. There is no exception made here for intentionality, though a flagrant trip could result in ejection.
Other than the awful missed call on the Eagles punching Steelers players, there were no egregiously bad penalties. The officials caught a lot of flak in this one, but in retrospect, it probably wasn’t as bad as it seemed. At least if you go by the actual rules, which at times lack clarity and nuance.
