The Pittsburgh Steelers were just full of excuses after starting off their season with a 28-21 loss to the New England Patriots Thursday night.
In addition to setting the wheels in motion to make “Headsetgate” an official word in the English dictionary, the Steelers were also upset with the Patriots after a goal line shift in the fourth quarter that resulted in a Pittsburgh false start on 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
“I thought that there was a rule against that,” Ben Roethlisberger said after the game, via Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports. “Maybe there’s not. Maybe it’s just an unwritten rule. … We saw it on film, that the Patriots do that. They shift and slide and do stuff on the goal line, knowing that it’s an itchy trigger finger-type down there.”
As Pelissero notes, there is a rule that prevents defenses from “attempting to disconcert Team A at snap by words or signals.” Whether or not a team does that is basically left to the discretion of the officials. Steelers left guard Ramon Foster admitted that his team saw the shift play on film before the game and was informed it is legal.
“They time it up in the cadence,” Foster said. “Yeah, that’s one of the things they do. Welcome to Foxborough. I think it’s more heightened because it’s (the Patriots) and it looks like – whatever the case may be. They’re a team that likes to take advantage of those type of situations, and we can’t give that to them.
“Kudos for them for thinking of that and making it happen in that situation. I can’t be mad. That’s on us. We can’t false start.”
Roethlisberger felt that the shift should have resulted in a penalty because it took place while he was calling out his cadence.
“In my years of playing, a defensive guy can’t bark stuff or move in the middle of a cadence,” he said. “I agree that the ref said, ‘Well, he didn’t go in the neutral zone.’ … I was arguing the fact that he shifted in the middle of a cadence.”
Former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth said this stuff happens all the time.
Shifting in the middle of the cadence happens in every game multiple times https://t.co/5emXf0JyCh
— mark schlereth (@markschlereth) September 11, 2015
Mike Tomlin was clearly frustrated with the headset malfunctions and felt it may not have been a coincidence. The Steelers’ official website certainly thought the Patriots were cheating. And now, we have more complaints about New England doing stuff on the field that may be legal but shouldn’t be legal.
If you want to know why the Steelers really lost the game, this will give you a good idea.
GIF via NESN
