Well, on behalf of everyone who didn’t give a rat’s ass who won this game, I thank the players on both teams for making it so entertaining.
This is worth its own thread - but WHY do the Steelers get good ref treatment year after year?
Yes, but people rarely fumble on a kneel.
He has to be, too many playoff losses
Right, but that still leaves the Steelers with a way to win the game. If the Bengals had gotten a first down running the ball they had the potential to not give the Steelers any chance at all. Plus iirc they were in marginal field goal range, and you lose a couple yards on every kneeldown. If you aren’t going to get a first down, you at least want the 3 points to force the Steelers to get a touchdown.
So anyway, was that Simms/Nantz announcing suckfest the most biased announcing you’ve ever seen? They were fellating the Steelers all game long. When Shazier wrecked Gio, you hear them saying “oh no big deal, he kinda turned around, and once he’s a runner you’re allowed to try to hit him in the face with a sledgehammer” but then you have a perfectly routine, clean, and almost textbook sack on Ben by Burfict and they were wondering if he was going to get ejected and suspended. That’s only the most extreme example I can remember offhand. You’d think they were a bunch of partisan Steeler fans.
Gio had caught the ball and turned and made a football movie
you’re allowed to hit the runner helmet to helmet like that
Burfict’s hit was a penaly by the rule but it didn’t look malicious. He was just running toward the receiver and didn’t have time to get out of the way. he hit him in the head with his shoulder
hate to see the game end because of a penalty though
This was my thought too: In isolation, the Gio non-call and the Bryant penalty could have been justified, but not both at once. The Bengals had a right to feel screwed by the refs.
Not a glorious day for refereeing, all around. The Steelers’ touchdown, entertaining as hell as a catch, but was clearly being bobbled as the receiver went out of bounds. PI to set up the Bengals TD was marginal at best.
Yes they were biased toward the Steelers, and I say that as someone who has a mild dislike for both teams but no real rooting interest.
On a tangent, did anyone else like it when the power went out in the booth and there was silence? It reminded me of that game in the 80s where they went with no commentary at all…I wouldn’t mind a comment every few minutes, but jeez did I enjoy that quiet.
For those wondering about the penalty on Jones - here it is… It’s not a super good angle, but at the end (after Burfict already put his hands on Porter), as Porter is calmly backing away, Jones comes flying in at him from out of frame and tries to run through several officials. You’ll notice that a third official suddenly (and quickly) is in the frame…that’s because Jones shoved him into the frame. That’s a penalty all day every day.
Blown calls both ways, classless behavior from both teams. One thing I didn’t see in this thread is that AJ Green false started on the play where he caught the TD pass, but it went uncalled.
Neither team deserved this win.
Maybe, but the Bengals didn’t deserve the win more, and by a significant margin.
I kinda feel like real justice is to dq them both and give the slot to the Jets.
Great quote after the game (courtesy of espn.com):
“You’ve got to be disciplined to understand the ultimate goal. That’s always got to be important,” Bengals Pro Bowl offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said…
When asked who takes the blame for that lack of discipline, Whitworth said, "I’m a leader, so it falls on all of us. "
I don’t think that’s actually correct, but I don’t know the rule for sure. Incidental helmet to helmet contact is fine against a ball carrier, but not deliberately leading with the crown of your helmet like that. A recent change even applies not leading with the crown of your helmet as the ball carrier, which became a rule soon after IIRC Trent Richardson laid out that Eagles safety.
This started with the dumbest 2 point conversion play I’ve ever seen. They had to try the 2 pointer to make the game only tie-able with a Pittsburgh field goal. But they could have tried something that had half a chance of success.
I think they should have kneeled down twice, take one running play to position the ball for the kicker, then kick the field goal. There’s just no way in hell you risk turning the ball over like that, and odds are they would have been up by 4.
Steelers get the credit for keeping their cool when it counted and letting the Bengals beat themselves.
Jones says Brown flopped.
Stay classy.
It’s illegal outside of the tackle box.
(p. 58 of this pdf document)
It’s kinda sad that the offensive excitement in this Vikings/Seattle game is a pass interference call.
I get that both teams have very good to amazing defenses, but I wouldn’t mind a bit more challenging of them with more than shallow crossing routes, WR screens, and quick slants.
ETA: Kudos to Wilson for actually attempting a long throw. Too bad it floated on him and could have been picked.
Steelers still had 3 timeouts, kneeling might have used :15. It was all on the head of the Jeremy Hill. So much on his head that they showed him on the sidelines holding it in his hands.