Officials, Mike Tomlin Both Bungled George Pickens Non-TD

PITTSBURGH — George Pickens caught the ball in the end zone, and took three steps before the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver was pushed to the ground onto the white boundary at Acrisure Stadium on Monday night, for what appeared to be a touchdown against the New York Giants.

The first problem is that he somehow took those three steps without his left foot hitting the ground. Pickens landed with his right foot, his left foot hovered inches off the turf, and then took another step with his right foot and Giants defensive backs Donte Banks and Jason Pinnock pushed him out of bounds.

For Pickens to complete the catch, he needed more than one foot down. So it was, rightfully, not a completed touchdown.

But it was called a touchdown on the field, and no one in the stadium seemed to have any inkling that it might not be a touchdown. The first anyone at Acrisure Stadium was aware that it might not be a score was when referee Scott Novak made an announcement to the crowd.

“The ruling on the field … after review … that pass was incomplete.”

That was immediately met by disbelief from the 66,637 in attendance, and the entire Steelers roster, who had no reason to suspect that Pickens’ left foot was capable of levitation.

Mike Tomlin threw his red challenge flag, the play was further reviewed by Novak, who then said the play would stand as incomplete, and the Steelers would be charged with a timeout for challenging a play that was not challengeable.

Tomlin was clearly confused by what had happened, both during the game and after the game.

“I didn’t know that they used replay assist,” Tomlin said. “I really wasn’t really clear on why it was ruled a non-touchdown. I went to the flag. Had I known they used replay assist, obviously I wouldn’t have thrown because you’re not allowed to throw when they use replay assist.”

It turns out none of what Tomlin thought, even after the game, was correct. Plays that use replay assist can be challenged by coaches. Replay assist was not used on that play. It was simply an expedited booth review process, NFL senior vice president of football Michael Signora told Steelers Now in an e-mail on Tuesday.

“It was not replay assist, it was an expedited review,” Signora wrote. “An expedited review is the same as any other review, except that the referee does not come to the tablet. The on-field ruling was a touchdown, so that can only be a booth review. A coach cannot challenge a scoring play, change of possession, or any play after the two minute warning of either half, or in overtime.  If a coach does challenge in that situation, it’s a timeout or, if out of timeouts, a 15-yard penalty.”

The process for a booth review is well known. Typically, the referee stops the point-after try, says the play is under review, goes to the sideline, reviews the evidence, and makes a ruling. In this case, that process played out without the referee going to the sideline. 

The expeditiousness is a reasonable goal, but the process of what was actually happening was left unclear to those in the stadium, especially in an era of replay assist, where a call from New York can change a call on the field, and that change goes down as the official on-the-field ruling — and subject to challenge.

For example, a play could be ruled on the field as down at the 29-yard line, one yard short of the line to gain for a first down. Replay assist could come in and say the spot was incorrect and move the ball to the 30, giving the offense a first down. The coach of the defense could then challenge the ruling, and ask the referee to take a closer look at the entire play, to see if a first down was actually gained. No matter how unlikely it might be for the on-field referee to overrule what had already been handed down by New York, there’s nothing about the use of replay assist that prevents a coach from throwing his challenge flag.

But scoring plays are all automatically reviewed, and are not challengeable. The confusion came down because there are two types of reviews that both look exactly the same. An expedited booth review of a scoring play is not challengeable. Replay assist is. Which happened on Monday night? That wasn’t exactly made clear.

It doesn’t seem that Novak was clear on what was happening, either. After Tomlin threw his challenge flag, the referee announced that “Pittsburgh is challenging the ruling on the field of an incomplete pass.”

He did not say that Pittsburgh could not challenge the play. Also, an incomplete pass was not the ruling on the field. The ruling on the field was touchdown. That ruling had already been overturned by an expedited booth review. Replay assist inserts itself before the ruling on the field. It works the same as the officials huddling to make a call. Booth reviews do not.

It wasn’t until Novak went to the sideline and reviewed the play himself that he came back with the ruling that the play was not reviewable.

“Because Pittsburgh threw their challenge flag on a play that we reviewed, and made a ruling, we’ll charge them with their second charged timeout.”

Now, Tomlin certainly had the ability to demand an explanation about exactly what had transpired before throwing his challenge flag, and he certainly should have.

But it’s clear that the multiple modes of review confused both Novak and Tomlin to the point that neither of them operated the process correctly. Tomlin should not have challenged the play, and he was wrong to want to challenge it anyway. Novak should not have allowed the challenge to proceed.

The biggest reason? The speed. The NFL has the technology to make reviews faster, and that’s great for the fans, but in this instant, if the process had followed the traditional paradigm, no one would have been upset by the ruling. Instead, the rapidity of the process confused both the official and Tomlin, causing him to make an action he later regretted.

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