Football Footnotes: Refs got the ‘illegal touching call’ in Cleveland right; Bengals LB predicting victory over Steelers
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Usually, our Friday “Football Footnotes” post previews everything coming up on the local football scene. We’ll still do some of that on both the NFL and college levels this time.
But with the Pittsburgh Steelers losing in Cleveland on Thursday night (again), this is more like a Friday “Football Fallout” edition.
Especially as it relates to the officiating.
• As it turns out, the on-field officials did adjudicate the controversial “illegal touching” penalty against the Browns properly.
Is the rule itself a good one as opposed to intentional grounding? Well, that’s an entirely different debate.
The situation was third-and-2 for Cleveland at the two-minute warning, down 19-18. The snap to Jameis Winston came at the Pittsburgh 26-yard line. Hit by Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen as he was throwing, Browns quarterback Jameis Winston’s pass fluttered toward the line of scrimmage when an offensive lineman turned around and was the first person to touch it.
It was ruled illegal touching, not intentional grounding.
Former official and CBS NFL rules analyst Gene Steratore (Uniontown/Washington, Pa.) was on WDVE on Friday morning. He said that because Winston was hit during his throwing motion, that ostensibly took the possibility for intentionally grounding out of the equation — as did the fact that Cleveland offensive lineman Michael Dunn reported as an eligible receiver and was (*clears throat*) “in the vicinity” of the pass.
“By rule, even if the contact isn’t extremely significant, if the quarterback begins his throwing motions to a receiver and then is hit by a defensive player as that motion begins, where the football goes from that point on is irrelevant — whether it gets back to the line of scrimmage, whether there is a receiver in the area or whatever the case may be,” Steratore said on the “‘DVE Morning Show.” “In that regard, I believe that is what (referee) Brad Allen was thinking in that space.”
A grounding call would’ve been 10 yards and a loss of down. However, because offensive lineman Ethan Pocic touched the pass first, it was just illegal touching with no loss of down.
Given the snowy conditions, distance and minimal time left on the clock, that was a far less punitive result for the Browns, even though the nature of the penalty could be interpreted as very much the same net result — unless an official would decide to call both penalties at once (which Steratore said can happen).
Steratore told me later that he believed the officials were talking through the prospect of calling multiple fouls before Allen made his initial announcement but properly decided to avoid doing so.
The really confusing part is that “illegal touching” can also refer to throwing the ball to a receiver downfield who has gone out of bounds and comes back into play. In that case, it is a loss of down penalty without a 5-yard mark-off. The referee just brings it back to the line of scrimmage, and it is essentially an incomplete pass.
FYI on illegal touching. Garbage rule. If a WR touches its a loss of down. If it’s a lineman it’s not? Help me understand. pic.twitter.com/5GDf82I4eN
— Brogan (@BurghBreakdown) November 22, 2024
So, strangely, illegal touching can be two different infractions with the same name. It’s got two different punitive prices to pay. And the act of trying to complete a pass downfield is actually the one that carries the stiffer price than an offensive lineman just batting the ball down to avoid anything worse happening.
Yeah, go figure. That’s the NFL rulebook in a nutshell.
• So now that the Steelers game against the Browns is done, they sit at 8-3 in the American Football Conference, still atop the North Division.
However, they are behind AFC East-leading Buffalo (9-2) and West-leading Kansas City (9-1). The Bills have a bye. The Chiefs are 11.5-point favorites in Carolina (3-7) this weekend. So expect them to be 10-1 by Sunday night.
South-leading Houston (7-4) hosts Tennessee (2-8) on Sunday. The AFC’s top two wild card teams, the Los Angeles Chargers (7-3, second in the West) and Baltimore Ravens (7-4, second in the North), play each other Monday night.
Like Buffalo, the North’s other team, Cincinnati is also on a bye. They host the Steelers next week. Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt is already predicting victory.
We will win next week. Believe that ???? Work to win
— Germaine Pratt (@GermainePratt7) November 21, 2024
The Bengals are 4-7 and have lost three of their past four games. The Steelers swept this rivalry last season.
• Losers of three in a row, Pitt (7-3) heads on the road to play Louisville (6-4) this weekend. The Cardinals are favored by 8.5 points, according to BetRivers.com. The website notes that in the month of November, Pitt has failed to cover the spread as an underdog five straight times.
Fourth-ranked Penn State (9-1) is an 11-point favorite at Minnesota (6-4). The Nittany Lions have won 29 straight games against teams unranked in the AP Top 25.
The 5-5 West Virginia Mountaineers are hosting 5-4 Central Florida on Saturday as well. WVU is a three-point home underdog. BetRivers.com charts that the road team has covered the spread in each of West Virginia’s last six games.
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• The NEC championship is on the line for Duquesne (8-2, 5-0 NEC) in New Britain, Conn., on Saturday. If the Dukes beat Central Connecticut State, they win the title outright and go to the FCS Playoffs. If CCSU wins, the Blue Devils and Dukes share the crown, but CCSU (6-5, 5-1 NEC) would get the automatic bid via a head-to-head tiebreaker.
That said, ranked 19th in the country, Duquesne may not be entirely out of the mix for an at-large berth. Duquesne is on an eight-game winning streak. Coach Jerry Schmitt has an offense with 310 points, the most in the conference. The team won last year’s meeting 44-20 and has beaten the Blue Devils three times in a row. The Dukes are one of three remaining unbeaten teams in FCS play this season (Montana State and North Dakota State).
As for Robert Morris, the Colonials (6-5, 3-2) conclude their season against Stonehill at home (1-9, 0-5) at noon Saturday.