NFL officiating expert echos complaints from Steelers fans on costly penalties

If you were frustrated by the officials in the Steelers-Jaguars game Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, you weren’t alone.

And, no, I’m not just talking about Diontae Johnson.

CBS NFL officiating analyst Gene Steratore is right there with you.

Based on his appearance on WDVE Tuesday morning, it’s clear Steratore, who is a Uniontown native and Washington County resident, didn’t like how the roughing the passer penalties were adjudicated during the game, nor was he a fan of that controversial offensive offsides that erased Chris Boswell’s 56-yard field goal.

Steelers fans were irate when safety Keanu Neal was flagged for roughing the passer on what appeared to be a clean hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Roughing the passer ????‍♂️ #Steelers pic.twitter.com/R8h6vBmp9v

— Chad Tyson (@chadtyson) October 29, 2023

Then, later in the first half, Kenny Pickett was hit twice on plays that seemed to be a lot closer to the line of what would be considered roughing the passer, yet no flags were dropped.

Steratore says that angst is justified — particularly when Neal’s hit is compared to the second one Pickett absorbed from Adam Gostis, which resulted in Pickett leaving the game with a rib injury.

Hey @nfl, how is the Steelers hit on Lawrence a flag for roughing, but the Jags hit on #Pickett, resulting in injury, not a flag!??? Asking for a friend. #nfl #fixed #badofficiating #steelers pic.twitter.com/dyINn0OXQy

— RodP (@ThatDudeRodP) October 29, 2023

“You had a really great tackle from a blitzing D-back (Neal) from Pittsburgh, that makes a textbook tackle,” Steratore said. “Is some of his body going to land on the other human that is standing still that he hits (while) going full speed? Yes. And then what we saw Kenny Pickett take is just going back to the ‘70s … I mean, that’s just a foul. Because (Gostis) is adding additional punishment in that situation by driving himself regardless of how much of his body is on the person or not.”

Steratore said the element of landing with your full body weight on a quarterback is a tough interpretation for an official. But it sounds like he feels the NFL needs to give some more leeway to the defenders, especially with the Neal video being an example.

“I think it’s a really difficult thing to (officiate). But, at some point, physics is physics,” Steratore said. “And when bodies are moving that fast and hitting a stationary player, yes, their level of being defenseless, is elevated. They are the quarterbacks in the NFL, we should embrace the fact that that’s the case. But you’ve got to be able to crank that up and say, ‘Listen, he tried to brace himself and he didn’t fully try to drive him through the ground. Leave it alone.’”

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Meanwhile, regarding the offensive offsides penalty on Isaac Seumalo for allegedly having his helmet lined up over the ball in the neutral zone that eliminated Boswell’s long field goal, Steratore thinks that was a case of an official unnecessarily bringing a call from one point of emphasis to another area of the game.

It’s his belief that the official who dropped the flag on that kick was applying a recent discussion point from the league to the onfield refs to keep the neutral zone clean in short-yardage runs, i.e. the Philadelphia Eagles’ “Tush Push” play that has been getting so much attention in league circles this year.

But Steratore argues that even if Seumalo’s helmet was a fraction of an inch in the neutral zone — which Seumalo believed it wasn’t — there was no competitive advantage being gained worthy of tossing a flag to take points off the scoreboard on the successful kick.

“I know that they put some emphasis there because they want to make sure (the neutral zone) is completely clean and no one can cheat that inch or two in those scenarios. That’s the art of the game, though,” Steratore said of the “Tush Push” debate. “But this is a field goal, where someone’s left pinky might be in the neutral zone. Is there a competitive advantage to that play? Do we officiate that field goal the same way we would officiate a fourth-and-inches at the goal line on a ‘Tush Push’? No. So get in the moment. Know what you’re dealing with. … This is an assumption from me, but that’s where they went on that play. We’ve got to be aware of situational football in officiating. In my opinion, you just don’t go there (with that flag). You just just don’t go there.”

Unfortunately for the Steelers, those officials did.

Oh, and not to mention that it appears a Jaguars player had lined up offsides as well, which would have at least offset the penalties so that Boswell’s re-kick would have been from 56 yards again, instead of 61.

Just add it to a list of gaffes from an officiating crew that should be ashamed of its performance Sunday. As a unit, they may have been even worse than the Steelers offense.

And that’s saying something.