While the Philadelphia Eagles were better than the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, the officiating crew didn’t do the visiting team any favors. There were a number of bizarre decisions by the referees. During the Steelers’ final punt of the game, the Eagles were called for an unnecessary roughness penalty. Usually, this would’ve kept their offense on the field, but the officials claimed the penalty happened after possession had changed. It doesn’t seem Mike Tomlin agreed with that explanation.
“I was not,” Tomlin said Monday via the team’s YouTube channel when asked if he was satisfied with the referee’s explanation.
The play in question came with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the game. The Steelers were down 27-13, so every second left mattered. Tomlin opted to punt the ball away rather than leave his offense on the field to attempt to convert the fourth and seven. That would ultimately be the last time the Steelers’ offense would have a chance to take the field as the Eagles bled away the rest of the clock.
Therefore, that penalty not resulting in the Steelers’ retaining possession of the football was costly. It’s curious why that wasn’t the case too. Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter slapped Connor Heyward on the head, drawing the penalty. It was clearly enough to warrant a flag.
What isn’t as clear is when the referees thought that exchange took place. They stated the reason the Steelers didn’t keep possession was because the penalty happened after the change of possession. That’s just not the case, though. Carter slaps Heyward before the ball is punted away.
During that same press conference, Tomlin went into a little more detail on that penalty and how he’s approaching it.
“I don’t want to get into specifics of what was said to me in-game or how that was administered. There’s some controversy around it, I acknowledge that,” he said, “But I just tend to focus my energies on the things that we can control in those environments. I know that when we play better, these discussions are less significant and so I just wanna play better, coach better.”
If there’s an actual reason why the Eagles still got the ball, then what the referees did was fair. However, it doesn’t sound like anything they said to Tomlin made any more sense. That seems par for the course for that officiating crew. It had a messy day all around, with much of the spotlight being on Eagles players not being penalized for throwing punches during a scuffle in the back of the end zone. Tomlin didn’t love the rationale for that either.
It is frustrating, but there’s no way to change it now. Poor officiating wasn’t the only reason the Steelers lost that game. Even if they had gotten a first down from that penalty, there’s no guarantee their offense would’ve scored. They had a tough time moving the football all day.
The Steelers don’t really have time to dwell on their mistakes against the Eagles. They have to turn around quickly to face the Baltimore Ravens. This might be their most important game of the season yet. They have better things to do with their time than lament on what could’ve been against the Eagles if the officiating had been better.
