The Los Angeles Rams were screwed by a terrible spot from the officials in their 24-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. on Sunday.
The Steelers had a 4th-and-1 at the Rams 39 while leading 24-17 with 2:24 left. Pittsburgh gave the ball to Kenny Pickett for a quarterback sneak, and the Rams appeared to have stopped him short of the first-down marker.
It looks like the Rams stuffed the Steelers on 4th down
But…a generous spot gives the Steelers a first down and with no timeouts, the Rams can’t challenge
Clock winds to 2 minutes, Steelers take 3 knees, game over #LARvsPIT pic.twitter.com/hwJ7pdl7e1
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) October 22, 2023
Despite the Rams appearing to have stopped Pickett short of the first down marker, the spot gave the Steelers a first down. Pittsburgh was able to kneel out the clock and win.
The Rams could not challenge the spot because they did not have any timeouts left. What stings even more is that the spot could have been reviewed had the play taken place inside the final two minutes of the half.
The Rams’ offense barely produced in the fourth quarter, which hurt them. Rams head coach Sean McVay should also be blamed for using up all his timeouts earlier in the half, leaving him without any to challenge when he needed to. But no matter how you look at it, that was a terrible spot by the officials.
