The Pittsburgh Steelers' 2023 season came to a sad end on Monday, as they lost to the Buffalo Bills by a score of 31-17. The Steelers were definitely outplayed, and the Bills were clearly the better team, but there were still plenty of calls made by the officials that were suspect and often seemed to go in the Bills' favor. One of these instances occurred in the third quarter when Joey Porter Jr. was making a tackle and then was hit in the back by a Bills offensive lineman illegally, but there was no flag thrown.
Steelers Veteran Defends Joey Porter Jr.
When Porter Jr. initially took the hit, he stayed down on the field for quite a while. He eventually got up and walked to the locker room to be checked for a concussion, and was officially put into concussion protocol. He wasn't able to reenter the game.
The hit came to Porter Jr.'s back, and it was egregiously late. Steelers safety Eric Rowe shared his thoughts on the hit with Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"It's a dangerous play. On the fact of player safety, he's focused on trying to make a tackle, and it's just like a block in the back they would call. It's him just teeing off."
In watching the play, it is clear the hit is intentional despite it coming when the receiver was pretty much already down on the field. The pass and catch came on a play that was extended by Josh Allen, so the offensive linemen were all together behind the line of scrimmage besides Connor McGovern who took off in a full sprint to hit Porter Jr.
Since the hit came to Porter Jr.'s back, a flag could have been thrown for a few reasons. An illegal block to the back, which this obviously was, or, it could have been a personal foul for a late and unnecessary hit. Either way, the officials should have all been throwing their flags in the air after this play, yet none did. This was a trend that occurred throughout the game, as the referees seemed dead-set on giving the league their annual Patrick Mahomes and Allen playoff-showdown in the Divisional Round.
The play against Porter Jr. could have and should have been a personal foul against McGovern, but the officials waited to call their first personal foul of the game until after the Steelers scored their next points. The Steelers made it a 24-17 game after a touchdown reception by Calvin Austin, but they threw a flag on Dan Moore Jr. on the extra-point for swatting a Bills hand out of his face.
Many questioned what made the officials throw the flag on Moore Jr. since the replay looked relatively harmless. Apparently to NFL officials, it was enough to warrant a penalty, versus a player getting speared in the back following a play. The penalty gave the Bills 15 yards on the kickoff which set them up with good field position. They marched down and scored on that drive.
These are just a few questionable calls that occurred which went in the favor of the Bills. The Bills stormed off to a 21-0 lead to begin the game, so it's easy to view they were the better team anyways, regardless of the officials. However, it is still frustrating to see the Steelers come back and get within striking distance just for the officials to take over the game.
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