CBS NFL rules analyst on Cam Heyward's roughing-the-passer call vs. Browns: 'It was an overreaction'

During his weekly “Zebra Talk” segment on WDVE, CBS NFL rules analyst Gene Steratore described Sunday’s controversial roughing-the-passer penalty against Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward as an “overreaction.”

The penalty against Heyward came on a second down at the Pittsburgh 11-yard line. Heyward appeared to simply tackle Deshaun Watson as the Browns quarterback attempted to elude pressure. But a flag was thrown for roughing the passer when no excessive force seemed to be applied by Heyward.

This was just called roughing the passer on the Steelers. pic.twitter.com/rcDMIQY3Kf

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 8, 2023

“This wasn’t a ‘lift the player up, Turkey Jones, lift-and-turn, and try to do damage’ with a slam after it,” Steratore said. “It was Cam getting (Watson’s) feet off the ground — because he is elusive, and truthfully rather strong with his legs and can get out of something like that. … I felt like he turned him sideways. This wasn’t a lift and try to put a stake in the ground or plant him that way. It was an overreaction. Those plays happen in split seconds, and unfortunately, in this situation, it was ruled incorrectly.”

Steratore, a 15-year NFL official and Uniontown native, was asked about the prospect of the Heyward penalty being an intentional make-up call because the crew had previously missed a blatant facemask on Watson during a sack by Steelers defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi.

Wow, the refs did NOT call this a facemask penalty on Deshaun Watson.

Almost any QB easily gets this call.pic.twitter.com/BaC7kCs9f0

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 8, 2023

“You play hot potato. Communicate with the other six and say, ‘Listen, I really blew this big. Which one of you is going to take the hit and blow a foul on the other team,’” Steratore said with a laugh.

While Steratore may have been half-joking, he also understands why Steelers fans may have felt as if there was some validity to the “make-up call” complaints.

“I knew the make-up call stuff was going to happen pretty quickly. That’s a pretty natural response when you see two misses like that with different colored jerseys attached to the mistakes,” Steratore admitted.

Regarding another officiating debate from Sunday, Stertaore stood by his initial belief that Steelers running back Najee Harris broke the plane of the goal line in the first quarter on a first-and-goal touchdown run before his knee hit the ground. The Steelers didn’t challenge the call.

This was a 1st and Goal play in #CLEvsPIT that Pittsburgh elected not to challenge. I understand rushing to catch the defense off-guard and attempting to quickly score, but it appears that Najee Harris' knee is not down prior to the ball crossing the goal line. pic.twitter.com/yLVJ2AmfED

— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore) January 8, 2023

On Tuesday, Steratore reiterated his belief that coach Mike Tomlin could’ve thrown the challenge flag and may have won the appeal. But because the Steelers tried to catch Cleveland off guard and hurried up to the line of scrimmage for a second-down quarterback sneak, the Steelers lost their ability to challenge.

Kenny Pickett was stuffed on that play. Then Harris fumbled on third down.

But Steratore said that was also an opportunity for the officials to learn a lesson along with Tomlin.

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“If you rule (a) touchdown on that play, then we don’t have to talk about a challenge. It’s an automatically reviewed play. … On a play like that, when in doubt, give him the score. We can always go back and take it back (if he was down),” Steratore said.

Despite those disputed calls, the Steelers ended up winning their season finale over Cleveland 28-14.