The Pittsburgh Steelers have been relying on their defense to carry them through the first half of the 2023 season and their Week 8 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars was no different. Not only was the Steelers' offense struggling, but it appeared the Steelers were also doing battle with the officiating crew who threw or didn't throw a number of questionable flags. Now Pittsburgh's outstanding kicker, Chris Boswell, has taken to social media to prove that the officials got the call that took away his field goal wrong.
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Steelers' Kenny Pickett vs Jacksonville Jaguars.
You never want your team to be in a position where a call or the lack of a call is the determining factor in a game, but it happens all the time in the NFL. It can be very frustrating because all teams count on the referees to get it right. The NFL claims to recognize this and has instituted various challenge and review procedures to help ensure the game is called correctly and fairly. However, many infractions and penalties are unchallengeable and/or unreviewable. This is at least part of what happened to Pittsburgh when they played the Jaguars.
One of those "bad calls" was on a field goal kick by the longtime, and incredibly consistent Boswell. The referees said that offensive guard Isaac Seumalo was lined up in the neutral zone. The fact that this was being called on a field goal kick was baffling and many analysts and Steelers personnel got vocal about it. Even Boswell, who is usually pretty quiet, posted two pictures on his Instagram account to prove the officials were wrong. You can see that neither the ball nor any Steelers player was in the neutral zone.
Chris Boswell Instagram
Boswell isn't the only one to comment regarding his incredulity. Head Coach Mike Tomlin spoke about it during his press conference after the game. He said he had never seen anything like it in his 17-plus years of coaching. The guard that was flagged, Seumalo, who won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles before coming to Pittsburgh, was also baffled.
"I feel like I lined up in the same spot I did for the last eight years. Obviously, the refs saw something different. I'm sure in the next couple of days, we'll get a nice little apology from them, and that will warm my heart," said Seumalo.
The head official during the game was Adam Eck, and he said after the game that they made a "judgment call." According to Eck, it was "obvious on the field" so they called it.
"The right guard was lined up in the neutral zone. His head was over the back edge of the ball, so by rule, that's an offensive offside foul," said Eck to the reporter postgame.
The penalty moved the Steelers back five yards and made the once very makeable 56-yard field goal now a much harder 61-yard field goal. This was only compounded by the weather conditions and wet field, which had already proven to make kicking a challenge. Boswell, usually so automatic, missed the kick.
The Steelers Need To Get Their Offense In Sync
There were several other penalties, called and not, that were seriously questionable in the game. This includes a roughing the passer call on Keanu Neal which appeared to be a perfectly legal tackle. Matters were only confused when Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett took a brutal shot later in the game and roughing wasn't called.
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Steelers QB Kenny Pickett was injured on a late hit that wasn't called in the Week 8 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
At one point, a flag was thrown on Pittsburgh cornerback Joey Porter Jr. for a facemask when the replay clearly shows Jaguars running back Travis Etienne was the one who was manhandling Porter's facemask. Several players sounded off about the horrendous officiating, like receiver Diontae Johnson, who will surely be fined for questioning the league's supreme authority (insert eye roll here).
The tragic part for everyone who loves the NFL is that the officiating undoubtedly changed the trajectory of the game. The officials should not be the ones deciding the outcome of a game. We can lament over the lost three points and how Pittsburgh might have operated differently if they had them, but it doesn't matter. We can wonder if Pickett wouldn't be battling an injury today if the game had been called fairly and the Jaguars had been flagged for their aggression before that late hit, but it doesn't matter. Even if the officials say they were wrong, it doesn't matter.
To combat this kind of problem, the Steelers need to make sure they aren't in the position to begin with. They have to eliminate some of the completely avoidable penalties such as the taunting calls made the week prior against Johnson and George Pickens. Even more than avoiding preventable penalties, the offense has to find its rhythm, they have to score. You cannot win games off defense alone.
It isn't 1978 and it isn't accurate to say "defense wins championships" anymore. While no one will dispute how critical a powerful defense is, you have to be able to score points to win. You cannot depend solely on your two exceptional edge rushers - T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, to score the majority of the points as they did against the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers offense is struggling and they need to find the answer whether it is Pickett, the line, or Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada.
It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out during the short week leading up to the Tennessee Titans game on Thursday night.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith pushes off a tackler during his interception return against the Cleveland Browns during Week 2 of 2023.
What did you think of the offsides penalty before you saw Boswell's post? Click to comment below.
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