A Washington Commanders player made an inexcusable blunder to seal his team’s fate in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
The Steelers were leading 28-27 and had 4th-and-1 at midfield with 1:02 remaining at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. Mike Tomlin decided to keep his offense on the field rather than punting, but the coach may not have had any intention of running a play. Russell Wilson got to the line of scrimmage and used the hard count, which somehow worked.
Commanders rookie defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton jumped into the neutral zone and gave the Steelers a first down. Pittsburgh was then able to kneel out the remainder of the clock.
THE STEELERS GET THE OFFSIDES CALL TO ICE THE GAME pic.twitter.com/PIPNxi9XER
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) November 10, 2024
Talk about a rookie mistake.
Had Newton not jumped offsides, there is a good chance the Steelers would have punted. The Commanders had no timeouts remaining, so there is no guarantee Jayden Daniels would have been able to put together a game-winning field goal drive. But Newton made it so Washington did not even get a final chance.
Newton was not the only player who may have cost his team a win in Week 10 with a boneheaded move.
