‘I Was a Little Irritated’: Cam Heyward Confused About Cause of Personal Foul Penalty

BALTIMORE — When Cam Heyward was called for unnecessary roughness near the end of the first half against the Baltimore Ravens and it led to a touchdown, it looked like that could do the Steelers in for good, but they did not let that happen and battled back to win.

However, it still nagged at Heyward, who had a long conversation with the officials about the call. He did not even know that he touched the official and did so inadvertently. But more than that, Heyward appeared to have kept pushing on the pile, but was yanked down. So, when Heyward had a conversation with the official, he felt he earned the right to speak his mind due to his veteran status.

“I was already hot because I tried to put my hands up and I got pulled back down and I made contact with the ref,” Heyward said. “That’s when they threw the flag. It’s unfortunate, and I would’ve felt horrible if we had lost that game because of me… it’s football and on the backside of plays I got pulled back and I wanted to have that conversation. I’ve earned that right, I’ve been in this league a long time. We have talked to a lot of refs, I was a little irritated by it.”

Heyward was under the impression that the penalty was called because he made contact with the official. However, the pool report does not state that. Instead, it appears that Heyward was called for the penalty because of excessive shoving that he committed by being yanked down from the chest. Heyward being pulled by the chest is why he believed it was not a penalty without any intent, however, the referees did not mention that in their explanation.

“Well, there was some pushing and shoving after the play,” referee Walt Anderson said. “Number 97 continued to push after the play and that’s why it was called.”

That appears to be a mixup. Regardless, Heyward was disappointed and irritated during the call. He appeared to be upset on the sideline, even scrapping it up verbally with Minkah Fitzpatrick. Regardless, Cam Heyward believes that