The Los Angeles Chargers scored two touchdowns on plays when officials failed to call penalties that seemed fairly obvious. They missed a field goal as time expired when Joe Haden was called for off sides. Haden said after the game he did not think he was off sides.
It was rather hard not to notice the officiating played a part in the 33-30 loss Sunday night, but it’s also rather obvious the Steelers aren’t good enough to overcome these types of things, either.
More on that later, but first the blown calls:
On the Chargers’ first touchdown of the game – a 46-yard pass from Philip Rivers to Travis Benjamin – tackle Sam Tevi committed a false start penalty that was not called. There were three other apparent missed illegal procedure penalties on the Chargers offensive line in the first half.
When the Chargers tied the score on a Desmond King 73-yard punt return, Steelers cornerback Brian Allen was blocked in the back and fell to the ground as King ran past him.
“He was clearly behind me so I don’t see how they missed that call,” Allen said. “It’s just one of those bang-bang plays. I guess it was in the heat of the moment that the refs missed it. What happened, happened. You can’t take it back. What’s done is done. I just have to go back and keep working. But it was definitely a block in the back that they missed. Today it was just a bunch of blown calls that ultimately had an [effect] on the outcome on the game.”
Coach Mike Tomlin had to hold back during his postgame news conference, but his disgust was evident.
“We didn’t establish a rhythm in the beginning of the second half,” Tomlin said. “We had a couple of drives killed by penalties, holding penalties. It’s catastrophic. I’m going to keep my mouth shut. I’m going to do that because I send enough money to New York.”
Allen had a harder time holding back his words.
“There was just a lot of stuff going on against us,” Allen said. “The refs were doing their job. They just missed some calls. I’m not saying they had it out for us. I’m not saying that at all. But some of those calls were blatant. I just don’t see as an NFL ref… you’ve been doing this for a certain amount of years and you miss a call like that? Then the fact that it had an [effect] on the outcome on the game. That’s what makes it so frustrating. Those two blown calls had an effect on the outcome on the game. It’s over with. We’ll have to try again next week.”
The final call that was being questioned after the game was the first of three offsides penalties that were called against the Steelers as the Chargers attempted three field goals to win the game.
Chargers place kicker Michael Badgley missed the first attempt when Haden was penalized.
“Sometimes when you get a good jump it looks like you jumped off sides,” Haden said. “I have to look at it again, but I didn’t feel like we were off sides.”
There was plenty of other blame to go around. The Steelers lost the turnover battle again. Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception when the Steelers had a third-and-10 going at the Chargers’ 22-yard line.
The defense allowed the Chargers to score 26 points after halftime as Rivers completed 26 passes for 299 yards, including 14 to Keenan Allen for 148 yards and a touchdown.
The Steelers offense, meanwhile, managed only seven points after halftime.
“It’s inexcusable,” defensive end Cameron Heyward said. “The offense scores 30 points. We need to win the game.”
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: December 3, 2018, 5:45 a.m.
