Pittsburgh Steelers

Refs turn a blind eye to blatant punches thrown in Steelers’ vs. Eagles brawl

Posted on by Tony
Alan Eck’s officiating crew made a colossal mistake in the Steelers vs. Eagles scuffle in Week 15, and fans have a right to be upset.

Nobody can make excuses for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ performance in Week 15. This was hard to stomach. In sixty minutes of action, the offense managed a dismal 163 total yards — worse than any outing in the Matt Canada era. Meanwhile, Mike Tomlin’s team was nearly doubled in time of possession.

A few missed calls by the official in this contest would not have made the difference in the game with how flat Pittsburgh played in this contest… but turning a blind eye to foul play is annoying nonetheless.

The Steelers recovered a fumble on a punt with ith 4:13 remaining in the first quarter Steelers. On the next play, Russell Wilson hit Najee Harris for a short gain.

While this was happening, Darnell Washington punished Eagles cornerback Darius Slay Jr. with a block that drove him all the way out of the back of the endzone. Slay wasn’t pleased, and he retaliated with a series of punches thrown at Washington’s head.

Shockingly, it was Washington (not Slay) who received the first penalty thrown. Unsurprisingly, a scuffle between the Steelers’ offense and the Eagles’ defense ensued. Calvin Austin III came flying in to stick up for his teammate as he shoved rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell before Mitchell shoved him back.

But it was Austin (not Mitchell) who received the second personal foul on this play. This was the 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty that was ultimately accepted and would ultimately force the Steelers to settle for a field goal.

Steelers fans have a right to be upset with unfair officiating

Even if the Steelers would have scored a touchdown on this drive to take a 7-3 lead (instead of knotting the game 3-3) it probably wouldn’t have been enough to overcome their sluggish play. But that’s not the point. The fact that two unnecessary roughness penalties were called on the Steelers on the play and none against the Eagles was comical.

What’s worse is that the play even went to New York for review and they determined that the penalties were on Steelers players. This horrible display of officiating from Alan Eck’s crew showed bias toward the home team.

This wouldn’t be the first time. Eck’s crew has had a home team win percentage well above the NFL average for most of his officiating career. Over the past four seasons, the home team has won at least 70 percent of the games he has officiated every year.

All we can do at this point is laugh it off and move on to the Ravens game this week. The Steelers had a dismal all-around performance against the Eagles in Week 15. If Pittsburgh wants to prove they are serious contenders, they need a bounce-back game on Saturday.

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