Chiefs should have gotten another chance to boot Steelers into playoffs

[Jooser]

Chiefs should have gotten another chance to boot Steelers into playoffs

Posted by Mike Florio on December 30, 2013, 12:18 AM EST
Chiefs

At a time when plenty of Steelers fans are griping about the decision to wipe what would have been a game-clinching fumble return off the scoreboard in overtime of the contest between the Chiefs-Chargers, all Steelers fans should be complaining about the failure of the officials to miss a blatant foul as the Chiefs tried to win in regulation.

As kicker Ryan Succop lined up on the right hash mark to try a 41-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, seven Chargers positioned themselves on the line of scrimmage to the left of the long snapper. But a new provision added this year by the NFL to Rule 9, Section 1, Article 3 states that “[n]o more than six Team B players may be on the line of scrimmage on either side of the snapper at the snap” when Team A lines up in a conventional field goal formation.

Per a league source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL believes a flag should have been thrown. The league office could acknowledge the error publicly as soon as Monday.

The seven Chargers lined up to the left of the Chiefs snapper in plain view of at least two members of referee Bill Leavy’s crew. If the officials had called a penalty for illegal formation, the Chiefs would have had another chance to make what would have been the game-winning kick.

Succop’s shot at immediate redemption would have come from 36 yards out, with four seconds on the clock. If good, the Chargers most likely would have had no time left for a Stanford-band attempt to win the game.

While it’s impossible to know whether Succop would have made his Mulligan, the point is that he should have had a second chance, due to the San Diego penalty that somehow wasn’t called. If Succop had converted, the Steelers would be celebrating one of the most unlikely playoff berths in franchise history, courtesy of Week 17 losses by the Ravens, Dolphins, and Chargers.

Instead, Steelers fans will spend the offseason wondering whether their team could have replicated what the Steelers accomplished in 2005, when Pittsburgh parlayed the No. 6 seed into the long-coveted One for the Thumb.

Yeah, they blew the call with the fumble return too. The Steelers got jobbed, but they put themselves in that position to be jobbed.

[Jooser]

[Ghost]

If you look at the picture Jooser posted; you can clearly count 7 players lined up on one side of the center. That is a new rule and is an illegal formation. Can't have more than 6. I mean, it's not as if TWO referees were directly behind the line up... oh...wait....

[Slapstick]

Yeah, they blew the call with the fumble return too. The Steelers got jobbed, but they put themselves in that position to be jobbed.

That doesn't make it okay...

Now, our season is over while the refs sent a less deserving team into the playoffs...

[Jooser]

It's certainly not ok in my book, that's why I posted the article and picture. That's absolute BS, makes me think the Commish made some calls at halftime of that game.

[Notleadpoisoned]

My final thoughts on all of yesterday's relevant games come directly from the movie Shawshank Redemption. "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."

[Töm87]

That game cost me like 10 years of my lifetime. What a way to end the season, ohh boy. However, we should not focus on the refs. The reason why we didn't make the team is the fact that this team was far from ready to play when the season started, This is unaccaptable and 100% on the coaching staff. Sadly we can't change the fact that the refs obvioulsy don't know the rules. There can be done something about the coaching staff.

[JAR]

4. I think I would not like to be Dean Blandino when he goes into his meeting with senior staff, including Roger Goodell, today at the league office in New York. Too many mistakes, easily spotted mistakes, keep happening in the league. How on earth can you be an umpire or side judge staring at the defensive line and see seven players on one side of the center—clearly in violation of a league rule that says six is the most players on the line of scrimmage on either side of the center before a field goal or PAT—and not throw a flag? The league owes the Steelers and the people of Pittsburgh a mea culpa. And I’m beginning to think the offending officials on such obvious plays like that should have to sit a game. It’s just too important a situation for the only consequences during the season to be an offending official not making the playoffs. Coaches bench players if they don’t perform. Blandino should be able to bench officials if they don’t perform.


[URL]http://mmqb.si.com/2013/12/30/aaron-rodgers-rob-chudzinski-monday-morning-quarterback/?eref=sihp[/URL]

Goodell should return our draft pick over this.

[phillyesq]

4. I think I would not like to be Dean Blandino when he goes into his meeting with senior staff, including Roger Goodell, today at the league office in New York. Too many mistakes, easily spotted mistakes, keep happening in the league. How on earth can you be an umpire or side judge staring at the defensive line and see seven players on one side of the center—clearly in violation of a league rule that says six is the most players on the line of scrimmage on either side of the center before a field goal or PAT—and not throw a flag? The league owes the Steelers and the people of Pittsburgh a mea culpa. And I’m beginning to think the offending officials on such obvious plays like that should have to sit a game. It’s just too important a situation for the only consequences during the season to be an offending official not making the playoffs. Coaches bench players if they don’t perform. Blandino should be able to bench officials if they don’t perform.


[URL]http://mmqb.si.com/2013/12/30/aaron-rodgers-rob-chudzinski-monday-morning-quarterback/?eref=sihp[/URL]

Goodell should return our draft pick over this.

If there is any sense of justice, he should absolutely return the draft pick. The supposed rationale behind taking the pick was that it may impact the playoff picture. The ineptness of the NFL had an actual impact. While it may be speculative that Succop would have hit the second FG, the forward progress on the punt was not speculative.

The Steelers could have avoided all of this by winning any number of winnable games throughout the year, but two incorrect calls altered the playoff picture.

[Slapstick]

That game cost me like 10 years of my lifetime. What a way to end the season, ohh boy. However, we should not focus on the refs. The reason why we didn't make the team is the fact that this team was far from ready to play when the season started, This is unaccaptable and 100% on the coaching staff. Sadly we can't change the fact that the refs obvioulsy don't know the rules. There can be done something about the coaching staff.

IT IS THEIR JOB TO KNOW THE RULES!!!

They aren't competing against another team trying to win as well...

[Shoe]

4. I think I would not like to be Dean Blandino when he goes into his meeting with senior staff, including Roger Goodell, today at the league office in New York. Too many mistakes, easily spotted mistakes, keep happening in the league. How on earth can you be an umpire or side judge staring at the defensive line and see seven players on one side of the center—clearly in violation of a league rule that says six is the most players on the line of scrimmage on either side of the center before a field goal or PAT—and not throw a flag? The league owes the Steelers and the people of Pittsburgh a mea culpa. And I’m beginning to think the offending officials on such obvious plays like that should have to sit a game. It’s just too important a situation for the only consequences during the season to be an offending official not making the playoffs. Coaches bench players if they don’t perform. Blandino should be able to bench officials if they don’t perform.


[URL]http://mmqb.si.com/2013/12/30/aaron-rodgers-rob-chudzinski-monday-morning-quarterback/?eref=sihp[/URL]

Goodell should return our draft pick over this.

That is true. The league chose to come down hard on Tomlin. Accountability must rule in this case too, as (in both cases) the blunder was very costly in the game. I'm no "We get jobbed all the time" kind of Steeler fan, but this would be bogus, to not see some heads roll in a figurative sense.

[NorthCoast]

Maybe they need to starting fining refs for blown calls. That should get their attention.

[buckeyehoppy]

As long as the league keeps insisting upon hiring "weekend warriors" to do the jobs that full-time employees should be doing, you will keep getting the results you keep seeing from NFL referees.

This blown call cost every member of the Pittsburgh Steelers roster a playoff bonus check. EVERY... SINGLE... PLAYER... ON... THE... ROSTER! That should be enough of a blunder that it should get notice.

In the meantime, why doesn't this dumb f*ck commissioner the NFL has finally admit the problem he has and do what every other major professional sports league already does: hire their game officials full time!? It's finally time to start this conversation. If Roger Goodell doesn't think so, he's stupider than even I was giving him credit for.

[RuthlessBurgher]

You can't have more than 6 guys on one side of the snapper, but there is clearly EIGHT guys on one side. That means that there were only THREE guys on the other side of the snapper. How multiple officials can miss that degree of unbalance is mind-boggling. It wasn't as if it was missing some bang-bang judgement call like pass interference. The refs had plenty of time pre-snap to count heads on a game-deciding play, and couldn't even manage that. Andy Reid should be been running after the ref and stuffing a Polaroid in his pocket like Cowher once upon a time.

[Shoe]

You can't have more than 6 guys on one side of the snapper, but there is clearly EIGHT guys on one side. That means that there were only THREE guys on the other side of the snapper. How multiple officials can miss that degree of unbalance is mind-boggling. It wasn't as if it was missing some bang-bang judgement call like pass interference. The refs had plenty of time pre-snap to count heads on a game-deciding play, and couldn't even manage that. Andy Reid should be been running after the ref and stuffing a Polaroid in his pocket like Cowher once upon a time.

I really don't think it has to do with full-time/part-time. As to the play again, the Steelers were obviously affected by the play. But can you imagine the storm of controversy, had KC had something on the line here themselves? Could this have happened in an NFC/AFC Championship game? Could this have potentially happened in the SB? I think so.

The bottom line is that somebody should be held accountable. And not just "accountable", by e.g. denying playoff work opportunity. Someone should be suspended or more. Especially given how they layethed the smack down on Tomlin for his sideline gaffe.