You Make The Call is a weekly feature from Steel City Underground which will challenge fans to examine officiating call(s) made in the previous Pittsburgh Steelers game. The goal is not to whine about calls, as we cannot change them long after the fact! Instead, this column is an opportunity to open discussion where fans can debate on and better educate themselves about the rules of the game.

Welcome to another edition of picking apart the referees decisions!

No, honestly, this one isn’t really in the same frame as past “You Make The Call” articles, as I’m going to come out and say I felt the calls illustrated below were fair… Yes, I know many believe that whenever a call goes against their team, there’s an implicit bias to say the called “sucked” (for lack of better terms) but I’ll be the first to admit when the officials are at least consistent in dishing out penalties.

That’s how I felt about the officiating crew, led by head referee Ron Torbert, during the Steelers Thursday Night win over the Titans. At first, I felt the zebras may have unfairly called this penalty in the second quarter against the Steelers Stephon Tuitt, but after having seen the replay, I give a nod to the officials for having the best seat in the house.

Initially, it appears that Tuitt may have been pushed into Titans QB Marcus Mariota, but upon further review, Tuitt comes in low on a vulnerable quarterback after he has already released the ball.

The NFL’s rules are very specific about hits to quarterbacks. I believe this is in tune with the position having among the highest paid players in the sport: owners want to protect their investment, and we’ve all seen how ugly games can get when the star quarterback is watching from the sidelines. To paraphrase from the official rulebook, here’s a highlight on the roughing the passer rule:

Any physical acts against a player who is in a passing posture (i.e. before, during, or after a pass) which, in the Referee’s judgment, are unwarranted by the circumstances of the play will be called as fouls.

Furthermore, the large section on the roughing the passer includes these passages:

Roughing will be called if, in the Referee’s judgment, a pass rusher clearly should have known that the ball had already left the passer’s hand before contact was made; pass rushers are responsible for being aware of the position of the ball in passing situations.

And…

A rushing defender is prohibited from forcibly hitting in the knee area or below a passer who has one or both feet on the ground, even if the initial contact is above the knee. It is not a foul if the defender is blocked (or fouled) into the passer and has no opportunity to avoid him.

The latter is where we thought that Tuitt was innocent of any wrongdoing, but upon further review of the play, it’s hard to believe that a light push may have knocked Tuitt into Mariota. Ultimately, it’s on Tuitt to be aware of his movements, the release of the ball, and where he is striking the quarterback. With the ball gone and a hit to the knee, this is an easy flag for the officials to throw. When dealing with professional athletes, there’s little chance for an “accident” in these situations.

Regardless, calling these plays tight helps clean up future situations which could arise from allowing rough play to continue without punishment. Such is how the crew made a similar call to the benefit of the Steelers later in the game.

On 2nd-and-10, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger hits the deck after attempted a pass to Le’Veon Bell:

One of the most difficult passers to bring down due to his size and elusiveness, “Big Ben” rarely gets the benefit of the doubt in situations where Steelers fans are screaming for flags to be thrown. However, we can see that this is an even easier play to penalize based on our knowledge from Tuitt’s hit above.

The officials, in these two examples, should be commended for protecting the quarterbacks. I know some fans will say “put a dress on them”, inferring that football players are flagged for far less than generations before them (where players apparently ate nails for a pregame warmup!)

What are your thoughts? Good calls? Bad calls? Too soft? I’d love to hear your opinions below.