PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stopped short of criticizing officiating after Sunday night’s controversial 33-30 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
“You know, I’ma keep my mouth shut. I’ma do that,” Tomlin said when discussing how penalties affected his team’s momentum. “‘Cause I’ve sent enough money to New York.”
In the first quarter, officials missed a clear offsides call on Chargers right tackle Sam Tevi that would have negated Philip Rivers‘ 46-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin. Tomlin called the miss “unfortunate.”
In the second half, Steelers cornerback Brian Allen appeared to get blocked in the back on Desmond King‘s 73-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Cornerback Joe Haden said “hell, no,” he wasn’t offsides on kicker Michael Badgley‘s missed field goal attempt in the final seconds. The Steelers were called offsides twice, and Badgley hit the game winner from 29 yards as time expired.
The NFL hit Tomlin with a $25,000 fine in October after he called some officiating calls a “joke” that are “costing people games and jobs.” Nearly two months later, Tomlin was mum.
“Hey guys, I’m not getting into the officiating elements of what transpired and how it was communicated,” he said from the podium. “I’m just not. It’s fruitless. It doesn’t change the outcome of the game.”
From the locker room, several players maintained that they can’t blame wins and losses on officiating.
“Nah, we’re not gonna put it into the refs’ hands. We need to play better football,” said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who finished 29-of-45 passing for 281 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. “Like I said, we didn’t play well enough on offense.”
Guard Ramon Foster said he was worried about getting fined, and “I’ll just leave it at that.”
Defensive end Cam Heyward was more concerned with the Chargers’ 231 yards in the second half, including a 64-yard drive orchestrated by Rivers in the final two minutes.
“Officials make calls. They’ve got a hard job as it is,” Heyward said. “We just have to play better. The game was 23-7, and as a defense, we can’t be surrendering points. I don’t care who it is. Unacceptable.”
Source : ESPN
