Steelers' Mike Tomlin Detailed That Diontae Johnson Scored Despite Failing To Challenge

The Pittsburgh Steelers were looking for a better showing offensively with new coordinator, Eddie Faulkner running the show and quarterbacks coach, Mike Sullivan taking on play-calling duties. The results weren't bad, as Pittsburgh out gained the Cincinnati Bengals and crossed the 400-yard mark for the first time since Week 2 of 2020 while securing the 16-10 win. Despite a much better showing, Pittsburgh still had some regrets offensively as Head Coach, Mike Tomlin said during his postgame press conference that he felt receiver, Diontae Johnson scored on Pittsburgh's second offensive possession.

Pittsburgh began their second offensive possession of the game on its own 29-yard line, but with the help of a big third down completion by Kenny Pickett to Pat Freiermuth of 29 yards, got into the red zone. Pickett found Johnson open in the back of the end zone and it was ruled in the stadium that Johnson didn't have full possession as he went down, and so, the pass was ruled incomplete. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, a few plays later, Jaylen Warren lost a fumble and ended a big time chance to get points early in the contest. Tomlin talked about the sequence in the opening to his press conference and how the team lost out on an opportunity early.   

"I thought maybe Diontae [Johnson] scored on that one and then we fumbled a few plays later," he said. "We have to take care of the football. Lost points there. I don't know that the score was representative of how we were operating. But that's football and how things go."

CBS Sports rules analyst, Gene Steratore, also thought that Johnson had the touchdown. As he explained on the broadcast, Johnson may not have come down to the ground with full possession of the ball, but he managed to tap two feet and then a third which Steratore thought was good enough for the touchdown. It begs the question as to why the Steelers didn't make the call to challenge it. 

Steelers' Tomlin Detailed Why They Decided Against A Challenge 

The media asked Tomlin specifically why he decided not throw the red flag to get the officials to take another look at it. He detailed a number of factors that led to him not wanting to potentially lose a timeout in a game that was tight throughout. 

Tomlin didn't seem too phased by the decision he made not to challenge given the fact that the team got the job done and secured a victory. He said that lack of a good view of the play ultimately informed his decision not to challenge the play even though he believed it might have been a score.  

"[The referees] were definitive and I lost vision of it," he said. "There was people between me and him. I couldn't count the steps. They never gave us another look in stadium and we didn't get a quick enough look at it up top."

He added that being on the road also added to the difficulty of having a good look and, thus, they decided not have the play looked at. He said that it's the kind of thing that balances out over the course of the season due to being split playing at home or on the road. 

Pittsburgh walked away from their Week 12 matchup with the Bengals in a pretty good spot. They're now 7-4 and just handed Cincinnati another conference and divisional loss which will make their drive to the postseason without Joe Burrow even tougher. 

It was a bit of a tough day for Johnson. He finished with an ok stat line of four catches on eight targets for 50 yards, but probably should've had a touchdown and completely missed what happened on the Warren fumble. 

Tomlin has had trouble with challenges in his career and maybe his instincts that he didn't have enough of look were right. Even if one rules analyst says it's a touchdown that might not be the interpretation of the officials actually looking at things. At the end of the day, Pittsburgh got the win and so Tomlin won't lose sleep over making the call he did. 

What did you think of the call on the touchdown? Would you have thrown the challenge flag? Comment below!

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