FILED UNDER: The last play of the Browns-Steelers game. Is it true that Pittsburgh received home-field advantage?
This particular play has received little attention.
The Cleveland Browns’ road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football was sloppy for both offenses, but both defenses shone.The Browns must have been in a celebratory mood since they only let up 17 points to the Steelers. Cleveland should have won the game despite losing by four points.
They possessed the ball with 2:55 remaining in the game at their own 25-yard line, behind by four points. Almost three minutes feels like an eternity. After K Dustin Hopkins missed a 43-yard field goal earlier in the game, the Browns needed a score to take the lead.
QB Deshaun Watson has had ten fourth-quarter game-winning drives in his career, so this was not unfamiliar situation for him. Dawand Jones, a rookie right tackle, made a false start straight away. A fresh set of downs is initiated by two eight-yard throws. A 14-yard pass to Elijah Moore and a three-yard Watson scramble put the ball near midfield as the two-minute warning began.
Moore’s pass fell incomplete on second-and-seven. Watson was flushed with yet another jailbreak pass rush on third down and did not return to the line of scrimmage as the sixth sack was recorded. With 1:00 remaining, it’s fourth-and-nine at the Steelers’ 49-yard line. Despite the down-and-distance working against them, the offensive had to go for it. Regarding this,
Watson lined up in shotgun formation again for the next play. Set of four receivers. Amari Cooper, the game’s most productive receiver, lined up far left, with Moore in the slot to his right. TE David Njoku was just off the tackle Jones on the right side, while Donovan Peoples-Jones was towards the sideline. RB Jerome Ford was used as an additional blocker in the backfield.
The Cleveland Browns will face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Photographer: Joe Sargent/Getty Images
Ford accelerated to the rightside slot. Ethan Pocic, the center, delivered a crisp snap. The Steelers ran four on five blocks. Watson launched a tight spiral towards the 35-yard line, where DPJ was sprinting downfield after Njoku had pushed his way open.
The ball seemed to have sailed and would be uncatchable, but the throw was right at DPJ and highly catchable on review. It was declared incomplete, and Pittsburgh received the ball. The Steelers’ bench went nuts, as did the home crowd of 67,576, which was at 99% full.Cameras scan the crowd for happy Steelers fans as well as disappointed Browns ones. The program simply showed one replay before moving on.
The replay is up next.
The replay was shot from the end zone Cleveland was driving toward. The cameraman caught DPJ coming off the line in full-frame as rookie CB Joey Porter, Jr. slammed him immediately as he came off his break.Porter snags DPJ’s jersey with his right hand on the left shoulder pad near the TV numbers and locks on. DPJ swats away the apparent grip with his left arm and hand and goes up the field, already turning his head towards Watson and the ball’s impending trajectory.Porter gets up to DPJ and grabs and clutches the left upper jersey around the sleeve striping once again.DPJ now sees the ball coming his way and twists his entire body sideways towards it. Porter keeps his right hand on his jersey and then clutches DPJ’s right shoulder pad at the bottom of the main body cushion that protects the chest.Porter moves his left hand off the bottom of the shoulder pad and puts it beneath DPJ’s upper arm extremity, which is now locked on his elbow. This move prevents the receiver from raising his hand at all, thereby rendering DPJ a one-handed player.As the football approaches, Porter takes off DPJ’s jersey and lifts his hand to swat it away.In the replay, the line judge is around 10 yards away from both players, staring directly at the play from an angle that clearly reveals the jersey hold.Commentator Joe Buck says when the replay is shown to the television viewers for the first time:”A game with four lead changes and the two defenses displaying so much in Week 2.” “It all comes down to this jersey grab.”Analyst Troy Aikman immediately joined in:
“Yes, he has both hands. That’s what I observed as everything was occurring, and I assumed we’d get a call. Maybe the official where he was didn’t notice. I’m not sure if it’s considered an uncatchable ball. This one is done, and the Steelers have won.”
For the record, and watching through the video frame by frame, the ball did not soar and was mere inches away from DPJ’s one-handed hold. If he had been able to use both hands, it looks that he would have caught it and been well out of Porter’s grasp. Now, the replay does not reveal how near DPJ was to the sideline, so he may or may not have caught it.
If a penalty is called before the ball is thrown, the penalty should be held. If the call comes after Watson has thrown the rock, it is pass interference. In any case, it’s an automatic first down. The officials never signaled an uncatchable pass.
Did the Browns earn another set of downs and a flag?
Porter held DPJ not once, but three times and got away with all three as the play secured the victory.
The replay was only shown once on the Heinz Field/Acrisure Stadium Jumbotron, and then it was gone. That is one of the benefits of having home field technicians on your side. It becomes red flag time if it is exhibited too many times. Except that, after a one-year trial period in 2020, the NFL removed the pass interference replay review. So, if Porter’s hold was not called on the field, nothing would change.
The play was essentially the game’s final play. Does it matter whether this happened in the first quarter?
It was an awful compilation of defensive maneuvers by a defeated defender.The defeat dropped the debut of the new white-striped helmets to 0-1-0
Did the Browns earn another set of downs and a flag? The officials had to go to their automobiles after the game as well
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