The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks in overtime on Sunday night, but Mike Tomlin was in no mood to celebrate after the game. The coach was furious over a sequence that took place at the end of regulation.
The Seahawks got into field goal range to force overtime following a hectic play with seconds remaining. DK Metcalf caught a ball along the sideline and fumbled, but Seattle retained possession. They then hustled to the line of scrimmage for a spike play to stop the clock. The stadium clock got to zero before Geno Smith got the snap off, and it was unclear if Seattle spiked the ball in time.
Madness on this play.@Seahawks get into field goal range with seconds left.
📺: #SEAvsPIT on NBC
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/xKD5WbIfKH— NFL (@NFL) October 18, 2021
It didn’t matter, as the officials decided that play was halted with 3 seconds left so they could review the Metcalf catch. No one really knew what they were reviewing, as it was a clear fumble and recovery by Seattle. All the stoppage did was allow the Seahawks to get organized and immediately spike the ball when play resumed. They then kicked a field goal to tie the game at 20-20 as time expired. Tomlin was furious and cursed out the officials.
Mike Tomlin cussin' pic.twitter.com/mFERWnNNCv
— Superdrunkmark69 (@cjzer0) October 18, 2021
After Pittsburgh’s 23-20 OT win, Tomlin could be heard saying he’ll be “writing a check to the league office tonight.” He then proceeded to rip the officiating crew during his postgame press conference.
Tomlin on final play of regulation. Said it was “an embarrassment” by officials. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/BgR1ngRNgX
— Josh Rowntree (@JRown32) October 18, 2021
“I hated it. I cannot believe that game was stopped to confirm catch/no catch in that moment,” Tomlin said.
You can understand the officials wanting to get such an important play right. But, again, there wasn’t much to question. Metcalf clearly fumbled and the Seahawks jumped on the ball. Perhaps the officials wanted to see if Metcalf stepped out of bounds before the fumble. Either way, Seattle definitely caught a break.
At least the Steelers won. The same wasn’t true when they were on the wrong end of a much worse officiating blunder earlier this season.
