Aaron Rodgers was up and down against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7. While he helped keep the Pittsburgh Steelers in the game, he also made some bad plays that contributed to their loss. That includes two interceptions. However, it’s hard to fault Rodgers for the second turnover. He threw a good ball to DK Metcalf, but the wide receiver got the ball ripped out of his hands by corner DJ Turner II. However, Mike Florio doesn’t think that play should’ve counted.
“I don’t think this is an interception,” Florio said Friday on his Pro Football Talk podcast. “Here’s what happens. This guy is going to the ground as he’s making this interception. If you’re going to the ground, you have to maintain possession of the ball through the ground.
“And if you bobble it after you’re on that white stripe, it’s not a catch. The problem is they never played it out so we could see the replay through whether or not he bobbled it. In real time, I saw the bobble.”
The play in question came with 43 seconds left in the second quarter. It was the second Steelers possession in a row that ended in an interception. That allowed the Bengals to come back from an early 10-0 deficit and take a seven-point lead into halftime.
Turner’s interception helped sap the Steelers of much of their momentum. They were already down 14-10, and rather than cut into the Bengals’ lead, the Steelers watched as Cincinnati put three more points on the board on its following drive.
Florio is correct that a catch should be overturned if a player doesn’t maintain possession through the ground. There was an example of that happening in earlier in the game. In the second quarter, Joe Flacco hit Ja’Marr Chase for a touchdown, but upon review, the call was overturned because Chase didn’t hold on to the ball as he hit the ground. He never had possession.
Therefore, there’s a good argument to be made that Turner’s interception could’ve been overturned. It wasn’t a clean play, and the ball was moving slightly as he hit the ground.
However, it wasn’t clear enough for the officials to change the call. The Steelers shouldn’t have put themselves in that position to begin with. Metcalf is one of the biggest and strongest receivers in the league. Had he held on to the ball, then this wouldn’t be an argument.
The Steelers made plenty of other mistakes, too. That interception wasn’t the only reason why they lost. Even near the end of the game, the Steelers had the lead. Their defense just couldn’t get a stop. There’s no changing what’s already happened. All the Steelers can do is be better going forward.
