Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin was not pleased with the taunting penalty charged to his team in the third quarter of their 36-10 loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City on Sunday.
“I categorically disagree with it,” he said in his post-game press conference. “I thought Ray-Ray [McCloud] was signaling first down and he turned around to do so and [Sneed] just happened to be there.”
Look at the opening frame of the video, how Sneed awkwardly angles his body to get in front of McCloud’s face. He’s trying to take a charge after McCloud has already dunked and is hanging off the rim, and he gets the call.
The officials huddled for about 30 seconds before announcing the penalty. According to Tomlin, they still came to the wrong conclusion: “I think we’ve got to exercise some common sense.”
Viewed through the lens of the taunting penalty WR Chase Claypool garnered a few weeks back for sticking his finger in the face of a Vikings defender, I can see why the official was looking for something to make an example of.
The 36-10 loss was rarely fun to watch, and whatever small doses of enjoyment prescribed were invariably chased with a moment of pain:
- The flea flicker-turned-INT
- Consecutive Claypool circus-catches culminating in missed FG
- Diontae’s first down-turned-unforced fumble
Steely Cam 