The Steelers win overtime 23-20 after Geno Smith makes a costly turnover. (0:56).
PITTSBURGH -- Despite winning Sunday's game against Seattle Seahawks 23-20 in overtime (and being beaten by the Steelers in the process), Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers coach, was still upset about a call made in the final seconds.
The Seahawks were on the brink of a losing game and Geno Smith made a 12-yard pass for DK Metcalf. With the clock ticking, cornerback James Pierre had Metcalf grab the ball and wide receiver Freddie Swain took it inbounds.
The Seahawks quickly grabbed the ball and ran it to the line. Officials then blew their whistles to indicate that they were reviewing the catch.
Tomlin was furious at the stoppage of the review.
After the game, he stated that he hated it. It was horrible. It was unbelievable that the game was stopped in order to verify catch/no catch at that moment. This is all I have to say.
"It was embarrassing."
Officials determined that it was a catch, and that there would be three seconds remaining on the clock. The Seahawks were able to spike it once more and set up Jason Myers' 43-yard field goals that sent the game into overtime.
Even without the review, even though the Seahawks would still have enough time to reach the field goal with one second remaining on the clock, it would have been chaotic. Instead, the Seahawks were capable of regrouping, spiking the ball again, and then bringing out the field goal unit to tie the game.
The Steelers weren't just frustrated by Sunday’s officiating. In the first quarter, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was unable to get the ball because of a fake pump.
Initially, it was considered an incomplete pass. However, after Pete Carroll challenged officials, officials determined that it was a fumble.
Carroll stated, "The way that we saw it was that it had to be challenged." "And they saw it immediately was that he had thrown it. This is what we are hearing. They were wrong so I decided to disagree with them. Their assessment took only a few seconds, or maybe 20 seconds.
"We see really difficult replays that take three, four, or five minutes, or something similar. This play was a good one, and I think we could have a chance if we had all that time. They were, and even though they weren't, the recommendation was that you don't challenge it. I went against it, and I threw it the flag and stayed with the play, you know."
The Tuck Rule, which stated that any ball left the quarterback's hands was a forward-pass, is no longer in force. Once the ball begins to come back towards the quarterback, the passing motion ceases and the ball is not considered a forward-pass. It's a fumble.
Roethlisberger stated that even though the ball was moving forward, Roethlisberger told him that his arm was going backwards. Josh Dobbs is an aerospace engineer and I had to ask him how it works. It's impossible, he said. "I can't be fined for this because I'm only telling you what Dobbs stated."
