Well the league must have it out for the Pittsburgh Steelers! For the past couple weeks, players from the Pittsburgh Steelers have been fined left and right for all of the so called illegal hits that are being taken place. In my opinion, as well as a lot of analysts of the game agree with me also. Some hits that were taken were indeed illegal hits in the new rulebook for the NFL, but some were still clean hits – that guys were still getting flagged for, fined for, and suspended for. They were hits that 5 or 10 years ago, and especially 20 years ago would be not only completely legal, but encouraged by coaches to do. Now the league says that they are just looking out for their safety which I think is ridiculous. So hits that we were all taught how to do, like driving through a quarterback whenever you get the chance, or laying out a receiver right as he catches it to try and break up the play is now not allowed. There are many problems with this, one is that the judgment is up to the referees, who are supposed to be watching the play, so if they miss a call or make a call, doesn’t that take them out of the play? When they make the call it obviously is huge because it is a 15 yard penalty and an automatic first down. The problem with this is that the refs will sometimes call a flag on what should be a legal hit, which really hurts the other team, and almost cost the Pittsburgh Steelers a win. They were playing the Buffalo bills up in Canada when they were up by three points with only about a minute left. It was third down and about 18 when the buffalo bills called a pass play down the field, the Steelers, being the Steelers brought a blitz on this play with James Harrison coming free and unblocked, just as the Bill quarterback let go of the ball, James Harrison laid a perfect form tackle, hitting right below the helmet in the chest and drove him to the ground. The pass was incomplete so it is fourth down, right? Of course not, they call a personal foul on him, a 15 yard penalty and an automatic first down, which brought buffalo to about the 30 yard line of the Pittsburgh Steelers, setting up a field goal chance to tie the game, which they ultimately made and it went to overtime. They eventually won the game in overtime, but the referees almost cost the Steelers a win in the NFL, and with the competitive division they are in, it could have cost them a playoff shot. So making these calls when it is a legal hit is really frustrating for not only me, but the fans, as well as the players also.
Another reason why this is so frustrating is the missed calls, now I have seen a lot of these late hit calls or personal foul hit calls in the past weeks, but I have never watched a game yet where the referees blew two big calls for the Steelers, I swear they are out to get the Steelers or something. When the Pittsburgh Steelers played the Baltimore ravens this past week, on the opening drive of the game, a defensive end for the Ravens, literally clubbed Big Ben in the face, breaking his nose and having blood gush out, now everyone saw it happen on national television, but apparently the refs were not, which is strange because every time a Steelers defender does something like that, they get called. Also which was even more ridiculous is when our tight end in the 3rd quarter got completely laid out by a helmet to helmet hit, which was really scary because at first it looked like he was going to be paralyzed, but if the league is cracking down on this hard, and fining people crazy amounts of money, why was that not called – every ref on the field saw the hit because the ball was there, so how was that not called, it was unbelievable how terrible and against the Steelers the officiating was in that game. It broke Big Ben’s nose, which today he had to go get nose surgery to correct it, which will affect him for the remaining games of the year, and knocked out Heath Miller, who is doubtful for next week’s game because of the hit. Because of these hits and no calls once again it almost cost the Steelers a win.