| |  Upset Steelers blast referees following game
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The man who is nicknamed "Face" -- and anyone who has seen the prominent silhouette of his legendary chin would never question that appropriate handle -- was up in the face of referee Ron Blum as players and coaches exited the field after the divisional-round game Saturday.
And you can bet that, with the controversial manner in which the contest concluded, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher has not offered his final assessment of the shabby performance by the guys in the striped shirts.
|  | | Steelers coach Bill Cowher yells at the officials during the second half of Saturday's game. |
"Fine me if you want," Cowher suggested to league officials after a vent that seemed justifiable. "That's the truth. I'm not going to blame anything on this game, (because) we had opportunities to win this game and didn't. But we had something taken away from us today, too."
There were, indeed, opportunities for the Steelers to become just the 10th club since 1990 to upset an opponent that had a bye the previous week. After trailing 14-0 in the first quarter, Pittsburgh rallied for leads of 20-14 and 31-28. Even after the Titans tied the contest at 31-31, the Steelers had a golden opportunity, with the ball at the Tennessee 40-yard line and about two minutes remaining.
But the Steelers frittered away that scoring chance, with three pass attempts by Tommy Maddox falling incomplete, and they never got the ball back. The Titans won the overtime toss, moved the ball into position for a field goal, and Joe Nedney, after a questionable penalty, kicked the winner.
Which left the Steelers kicking themselves and more than willing to boot the game officials.
"Are these guys going to be held accountable?" asked strongside linebacker Jason Gildon, referring to the dubious roughing-the-kicker call that preceded Nedney's field goal, and various other officiating gaffes. "You tell me. I don't have much to say about it."
Said weakside linebacker Joey Porter; "It's obvious (Nedney) did an acting call and the refs gave it to him. You don't make that call in overtime and in a playoff game. A roughing call after the play was over. No way."
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It's the playoffs and there is a lot at stake. If anyone should be ready, then it should be (the referees). The players are going to show up and play. And in the playoffs, you're expected to rise to the occasion, am I right? So (the referees) should be held to a higher standard as well. ” |
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— Jason Gildon, Steelers linebacker |
The Steelers also charged that, just prior to the winning kick, the referees declined to grant them a timeout. Blum asserted the timeout signals came too late. Pittsburgh players contended the officials told them they had no more timeouts remaining. But in overtime for a playoff game, both teams get three timeouts, Blum announced before the extra period coin flip.
Certainly the level of officiating Saturday should be an embarrassment to a league still reeling from the criticism it took for the botched call at the San Francisco-New York Giants wild-card contest. There was one situation Saturday, when Cowher challenged whether the knee of Tennessee punt return man Derrick Mason had hit the ground, when Blum acknowledged he didn't know if the play was even reviewable.
It was admirable that Blum phoned upstairs to replay officials to see if the situation warranted a review. But as Cowher pointed out, officials should know in advance what plays can and can't be challenged, and a playoff game isn't the time for advanced education on such matters.
"Regardless of what happened," said Porter, "the one thing that will stick with me is that the ref took this away from us. You can talk all you want to about us (squandering) opportunities. That doesn't matter. The fact is, their guy missed a chip shot in overtime, and we were going to get the ball back. No one knows what would have happened then."
Certainly the bitterness with which Pittsburgh exited Saturday was exacerbated by their distaste for the Titans. The two teams used to share a division and their meetings are always physical bloodlettings. But the Titans have now won six of the last eight meetings. And six of the eight outcomes have been decided by eight points or fewer.
During the game, there was all sorts of venom, and it included Maddox once walking toward the Tennessee sideline to challenge coach Jeff Fisher and the verbose Mason. The incidents of in-line shoving were countless. And at least one player was helped off the field in every quarter. The Steelers were forced to play much of the contest minus inside linebacker Kendrell Bell, who aggravated a season-long ankle injury.
But as justifiable as the Steelers are in assigning culpability for the defeat to the officials, they also need to accept some blame, because this certainly was a game they could have won after overcoming the early deficit.
As has been the case of late, though, Pittsburgh had virtually no ground game, finishing with an anemic 67 yards on 20 rushes. The only big gain of the evening was a 31-yard touchdown run by Amos Zereoue early in the third quarter. Steelers receivers dropped at least four passes, including one on their final possession.
And the usually accurate Maddox was as uneven as the officiating. There were moments of brilliance, like a 40-yard completion to Plaxico Burress in which the ball was perfectly lobbed between double-team coverage, but also stretches when the league's Comeback Player of the Year missed too many open receivers.
All but buried early, Pittsburgh caught a break to climb back into the game, when Tennessee tailback Eddie George fumbled on his own 8-yard line after running into guard Tom Ackerman. The Steelers nearly resurrected their Super Bowl hopes entirely but, instead, another season concluded with the talented team having underachieved.
In coming days, Steelers players and coaches likely will allow that they fell shy of their aspirations, in part because they couldn't measure up. But for one night, until the reality of another premature end to the season sinks in, Pittsburgh players weren't about to point fingers at the guys in the mirror.
Not when the zebras had made themselves such convenient targets.
"It's the playoffs and there is a lot at stake," Gildon said. "If anyone should be ready, then it should be (the referees). The players are going to show up and play. And in the playoffs, you're expected to rise to the occasion, am I right? So (the referees) should be held to a higher standard as well."
Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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Fine Me!
