Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin Calls Late-Game Officiating ‘An Embrassment’

PITTSBURGH — Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin remained cool in his postgame press conference after his team defeated the Seattle Seahawks in overtime on Sunday.

But the fact that Tomlin was still steamed about the way the regulation period of the game ended was evident.

“I hated it,” Tomlin said.

The Seahawks were driving late in the game when Geno Smith threw to DK Metcalf down the left sideline. Metcalf caught the pass, well within field goal range, and was looking to gain more yardage despite Seattle being out of timeouts and the play starting with 18 seconds left on the clock.

Steelers cornerback James Pierre stripped Metcalf of the ball, and it bounced right to wide receiver Freddie Swain, who fell on it. But the Seahawks had to scramble to spike the ball with the clock ticking.

That is, until the clock hit 0:03 and replay official Mike Wimmer buzzed down to have play stopped to review the catch and fumble.

The Seahawks looked like they would have gotten the ball snapped and spiked before time ran out without Wimmer’s interference, but it would have been close and the stadium clock reached all zeroes. 

Instead, after the call was easily confirmed, the Seahawks calmly lined up and spiked the ball with two seconds left to let Jake Myers hit a game-tying field goal.

“I just hated it,” Tomlin said. “I cannot believe the game was stopped to confirm catch, no catch in that moment. That’s all I’m going to say.

“It was an embarrassment.”