NEW ORLEANS – One week after he made the big play against the New England Patriots, it appeared cornerback Joe Haden had done it again.
Needing one final game-defining stop against Drew Brees with less than two minutes remaining, Haden appeared to make the play when he broke up a fourth-down pass intended for Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas at the Steelers 22.
Haden, though, was called for pass interference, a penalty that caused the Steelers bench to erupt in anger and Haden to react with incredulousness, throwing himself on the ground.
Instead of getting off the field and beating a division winner for the second week in a row, the penalty gave the Saints another chance. Brees took advantage with a 1-yard touchdown to Thomas, the last of his 11 catches, with 1:25 remaining that gave the Saints a 31-28 victory.
That touchdown came right in front of Haden and had to be reviewed by replay to overturn the call on the field.
“It just sucks sometimes when those plays are so big and they are weighted differently,” Haden said. “They can just make or break momentum and everything. It’s very, very unfortunate. It sucks. I’m pissed.”
It was the second debatable – and costly -- pass-interference penalty against Haden. He was penalized in the first quarter on an overthrown pass to running back Alvin Kamara in the end zone – a play that former NFL referee Gene Steratore said on Twitter was a bad call.
Joe Haden got called for DPI on this. pic.twitter.com/3ABVOqwJOG
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) December 23, 2018
Even though Joe Haden did have a hand on the receiver prior to the ball being there, he should not have been penalized for Pass Interference on this play. This contact did not effect the receiver and is not severe enough to warrant a flag.#PITvsNO pic.twitter.com/xC4YcyNhKt
— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore) December 23, 2018
That led to Mark Ingram’s 1-yard run one play later and gave the Saints a 7-3 lead.
“I just felt those were bad calls,” Haden said.
Haden had been penalized only three times this season, only once for pass interference, before the game in the Superdome.
He was angry and upset when he stood at his locker and answered questions after the game.
“I’m very frustrated; I’m very pissed,” Haden said. “This means a lot to me. I come out here, I bust my tail and try to play good defense. It’s just tough the way the game is changing.
“It’s an offensive game. You can’t touch these guys. They didn’t say anything about Michael pushing off in the end zone for the last play. It’s just tough being a defensive back, but that’s what we do.”
Several players in the locker room and Mike Tomlin said they thought Brees’ pass might have been tipped at the line of scrimmage on the fourth-down call, which would have negated the pass-interference penalty. But a league source told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron reviewed the play in question and determined the ball had not been tipped.
“I thought it was tipped, but I didn’t have the courtesy of a replay,” Tomlin said. “We were asking for clarity on it, but you know things start moving fast in those moments.”
“I was right there, the play looked clean to me,” said safety Sean Davis, who had an end-zone interception in the first quarter. “I don’t know what they’re looking at. We got to play cleaner, play better and let us control the gamed instead of the refs controlling it.”
That’s what Haden thought he did on fourth-and-2 at the Steelers 26 with two minutes remaining. Brees tried to hit Thomas on a slant over the middle and Haden appeared to break up the pass, effectively sealing what would have been the Steelers’ biggest victory of the season.
Instead, the Saints still had hope. And those hopes were enhanced when Brees connected with receiver Ted Ginn Jr. for a 25-yard gain on third-and-20 from the 32. Two plays later, Thomas scored the game-winner with a goalline catch that was originally ruled down at the 1 until replay intervened.
“He gets physical coming off the ball,” Haden said. “So I try to get my hands on him the same way. Inside 5 yards, they threw a flag. I thought I made a play on it.”
One week after he was the hero of the 17-10 victory against the Patriots, Haden felt unjustly victimized in New Orleans.
“Joe’s been a playmaker for us; Joe is a veteran guy,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “I’m sure he is [taking this hard]. He’s a competitor. A lot of guys in the locker room are taking this hard.”
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.
First Published: December 24, 2018, 3:42 a.m.
