Did the Steelers get 'hosed' by the officials in New York? CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore weighs in
After Sunday’s 34-32 season-opening win in New York, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said that he believed the Steelers “got hosed” by the officials on a crucial call late in the game.
It turns out he may have been right.
With just over a minute remaining in the game, trailing 32-31 on a third-and-11, Rodgers launched a pass deep down the left sideline for Calvin Austin. It felt incomplete.
However, Rodgers, Austin and most of the Steelers sideline seemed to think there should have been a pass interference flag dropped against defensive back Brandon Stephens. He was in coverage on the play.
During his weekly appearance on WDVE, CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with that assessment.
“I think there’s pass interference there,” Steratore said on the “‘DVE Morning Show.” “The deep official on that sideline has that play. That action is in front of him, so he’s looking through the backs of both players, and doesn’t see the hand in the collar. The back judge in the deep middle of the field, who would look at that play inside out, has two players, literally, that are right in front of him, that aren’t involved in the play. And then you have the short-wing official who would transition to that ball once it got in the air. And I think the same thing happened to that official.”
Personally, I didn’t have a problem with the play failing to draw a flag. In the first quarter of a scoreless game, yeah. That’s probably interference.
With the game on the line in the fourth quarter? I think a little more hand fighting is allowed.
I also think Austin was the victim of his own size on that play. At just 5-foot-9, it looks like Austin sometimes is just getting swallowed up in coverage because he is smaller than the opposing defensive back when, really, he should be getting flags in his favor. It could be argued that this was one of those cases.
Fortunately for the Steelers, according to head coach Mike Tomlin, Chris Boswell is a “serial killer,” and nailed a 60-yard field goal, which would eventually win the game.
Boswell nails a career long 60-yarder to give Pittsburgh the lead!
PITvsNYJ on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/jm0DRH9d6B
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025
Another call the Steelers didn’t like was in the fourth quarter when Jalen Ramsey was whistled for a low block on an offensive player in the open field.
To me, and to just about every Steelers fan watching at home, it looked like Ramsey was just trying to make a tackle on quarterback Justin Fields, and didn’t plow through the opposing blocker (Braelon Allen) to get there.
The third-and-1 play started at the Steelers’ 14-yard line. Fields got 4 yards on the carry before the additional 5 yards were tacked on. So he had already picked up the first down, and the Jets were deep enough in the red zone that the flag wasn’t incredibly consequential.
But it was still a curious call. Steratore thinks it was one that didn’t need to be made.
No way is this a "low block" penalty on Jalen Ramsey. Steelers getting SCREWED. pic.twitter.com/jNDOtPPPmX
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) September 7, 2025
“The rule is that you can’t go through the blocker to make a tackle,” Steratore said. “But they also leave that little space, and that was Ramsey getting on the outside of that blocker, right? He wasn’t going directly through that player to get to the runner. He is trying to get around (and) circumvent this low block. You have some contact with the shoulder. It kind of clips the left leg of the blocker. In that window, there is room for massaging. … But if it’s not both legs, like ‘submarine the big guy’ just to get him out of the play and try to make the tackle, you can get around it like Jalen Ramsey did. We would prefer you to leave that alone.”
That’s how I saw it. So did Tomlin.
“I understand the rule. I just simply didn’t think it applied to (Ramsey) in that circumstance,” Tomlin insisted on Tuesday. “I thought he stepped around that would-be blocker, ‘skinnied himself’ and went in for a low tackle. That’s why I disagree with the call. I’ve had zero conversations with the league office regarding their interpretations of the play.”
The Jets scored a touchdown on that sequence to take a 32-31 lead, two series in advance of the drive that led to Boswell’s field goal.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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