NFL Rules analyst Gene Steratore weighs in on 2 controversial plays from Steelers win over Packers
During his weekly appearance on WDVE, NFL rules analyst Gene Steratore (Uniontown/Washington, Pa.) weighed in on two controversial calls from Sunday’s Steelers-Packers game.
One play went in favor of the Steelers that perhaps should have been overturned. The other, he believes, was a good call that significantly helped the Packers’ cause.
In the second quarter of the Steelers’ eventual 23-19 win, quarterback Kenny Pickett took a snap from his own 16-yard line. He threw what was deemed to be an incomplete forward pass on a swing pattern to running back Jaylen Warren down the line of scrimmage.
However, Green Bay challenged the ruling, saying that it was a lateral or backward pass and should have been ruled a fumble. The Packers recovered it and ran toward the end zone. The play was blown dead. But, presumably, Green Bay still could have been awarded the ball upon review, as it would have been a clear recovery.
At the time, CBS color analyst Charles Davis disagreed with the call and thought it should’ve been a fumble. Initially, Steratore didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn the incomplete call on the field.
During Tuesday’s radio appearance, Steratore maintained the NFL could have been seeing something different at the time through its Hawkeye review system. But he also said after watching the play repeatedly, he could see why Davis was so adamant that the ball should’ve been awarded to Green Bay.
“You assume that they are looking at something that possibly is showing them that this is just too tight to overturn, so we’ll go with the ruling on the field,” Steratore said. “After looking, it does appear like it’s a foot or two behind. Kenny opens up to his right. So what you’re trying to dissect, truly, within 30 seconds, are his feet at the nine (yard line)? But is his arm behind his feet, which puts it at the eight and three-quarters? The ball is thrown, it’s touched… I didn’t have my protractor out. I didn’t have my ruler out.”
If Green Bay had gotten the ball inside the Steelers’ 10-yard line at that moment, the entire game could’ve changed.
