Steelers Fans Apoplectic After Refs Miss One of the Most Blatant Penalties You'll Ever See
“We got screwed over by the refs” is the favorite refrain of every fanbase in sports after a tough loss.
But after the Pittsburgh Steelers blew a 16-point lead at home — the biggest lead blown on their own soil in the 85-year history of the franchise — Steelers’ fans are in full “bring me the head of the referee” mode.
The biggest point at issue is the world’s most obvious missed penalty on a touchdown throw.
Closer look at the uncalled false start by the #Chargers pic.twitter.com/ZdlckjO94j
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 3, 2018
Chargers tackle Sam Tevi moved well before the ball was snapped, the kind of call even some pimply-faced high school kid volunteering to call a Pop Warner game wouldn’t have missed.
And since “missed penalty” isn’t on the list of plays a coach can challenge, that’s six points on what should’ve been a loss of five yards and repetition of the down.
Making matters worse, the referees missed another call on another scoring play, this one a punt return by the Chargers.
Yeah no this is fine. pic.twitter.com/pay7F3k5iI
— pat muldowney (@patmuldowney) December 3, 2018
Football trivia time, folks.
If you shove a guy to the ground, and you push him in the part of his uniform that contains his name and number, what is the football term for such an action?
If you guessed “illegal block in the back,” you are more qualified to be an NFL referee than the clowns who officiated this game.
Meanwhile, the Steelers got whistled for three straight offsides calls on a field goal late in the game, and like Newton’s Third Law of Incompetence, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction:
Funny how the refs can see defenders going offsides but not offensive linemen committing false starts. They’re the same damn penalty just on different sides of the ball.
— Samuel H. Quinn (@SamQuinn23) December 3, 2018
Now in the words of Bill Nye the Science Guy, “consider the following.”
This somehow wasn’t a false start on what turned out to be a Chargers TD pic.twitter.com/C96wyxXZxR
— Adam Stites (@AdamStites_) October 14, 2018
Do you remember what happened to the down judge responsible for this missed false start that also benefited the Chargers, from back in October against the Cleveland Browns?
That would be Hugo Cruz, and he was fired by the NFL.
Of the Chargers’ 33 points in their 33-30 win, 22 were affected by referee idiocy in this game.
Steelers fans are furious. And unless (or even if) you’re a Chargers fan, you’ve got to just nod your head and question whether the NFL brought in disgraced NBA ref Tim Donaghy as a consultant to teach football how to rig games the way basketball used to.
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