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The spread for the game last night was Steelers +4.5, I believe.
The Bolts were in no position to cover the spread. So one of the most obvious false-starts I've ever seen is ignored and the Bolts capitalize to get on the board. Of course the Bolts were being allowed to false start throughout the first half, so it wasn't a complete surprise.
We've already noted that pretty much every special teams receiving play (even a fair catch) was penalized by the referees for the Steeles. Their average starting position in the 2nd half was around the 12 yard line. The Chargers did get a couple big penalties for big yardage early, but otherwise, they played "darn near perfect" according to the officials.
Indeed, on the runback for a TD, the Bolts DID NOT block a couple guys in the back. Why, if they had, the ball would have come back to around the 15. Good thing the Bolts didn't commit any penalties on that critical play!
The Chargers COULDN'T have been called for moving the ball on the final kick attempts because that would result in a 10 second run-off and the game would have gone to overtime. That would just require more Steeler holds and blocks in the back.
No, the refs were determined to see that the Bolts at least covered the spread. Unfortunately they did their jobs too well.
The Steelers will get a letter this week highlighting the 4 or 5 critical plays missed by the officials and Tomlin will fail to call them out to national media. You can look on NFL.com and I promise you won't see commentary about the false start that lead to a TD or the block in the back right at the point of the returner being missed that lead to a TD.
Tomlin and Butler did fail to manage the Charger's best receiver. Fichtner did get too conservative in the 2nd half, but honestly, would it have mattered? The officials were going to see to it that the Bolts at least covered the spread or won outright. That became painfully obvious as the game continued.
(How many attempts for the game winning FG do we need to give the Chargers? I just want to be clear on this.)
The Bolts were in no position to cover the spread. So one of the most obvious false-starts I've ever seen is ignored and the Bolts capitalize to get on the board. Of course the Bolts were being allowed to false start throughout the first half, so it wasn't a complete surprise.
We've already noted that pretty much every special teams receiving play (even a fair catch) was penalized by the referees for the Steeles. Their average starting position in the 2nd half was around the 12 yard line. The Chargers did get a couple big penalties for big yardage early, but otherwise, they played "darn near perfect" according to the officials.
Indeed, on the runback for a TD, the Bolts DID NOT block a couple guys in the back. Why, if they had, the ball would have come back to around the 15. Good thing the Bolts didn't commit any penalties on that critical play!
The Chargers COULDN'T have been called for moving the ball on the final kick attempts because that would result in a 10 second run-off and the game would have gone to overtime. That would just require more Steeler holds and blocks in the back.
No, the refs were determined to see that the Bolts at least covered the spread. Unfortunately they did their jobs too well.
The Steelers will get a letter this week highlighting the 4 or 5 critical plays missed by the officials and Tomlin will fail to call them out to national media. You can look on NFL.com and I promise you won't see commentary about the false start that lead to a TD or the block in the back right at the point of the returner being missed that lead to a TD.
Tomlin and Butler did fail to manage the Charger's best receiver. Fichtner did get too conservative in the 2nd half, but honestly, would it have mattered? The officials were going to see to it that the Bolts at least covered the spread or won outright. That became painfully obvious as the game continued.
(How many attempts for the game winning FG do we need to give the Chargers? I just want to be clear on this.)
