Further dipping into Mike Tomlin and his run of replay challenges that have failed over the past two years, we finally start on plays reviewed from the 2018 season.
I went over four calls from 2017 that all went against Tomlin in 2017, two from the same loss to the Jaguars and another two spread between two victories. But today we look at two challenges that came from the Steelers' first quarter of 2018:
Here’s how this is going to work: I’m going to break down each challenge play and to explain how the challenge came about, the result of why the call was upheld and grade Tomlin’s decision.
Considering he won none of these challenges, the grades per each challenge are between “Bad challenge” if Tomlin had little to no merit on the challenge, “Reasonable” if it was a tough call and the challenge made sense, or “Blown call” if you can definitively see it was a bad call by the official on the review.
Sept. 9, 2018: Steelers at Browns, tied 21-21
Fourth quarter
The Steelers looked like they had another easy win against the Browns. They were up 21-7 with less than nine minutes to go and were about to punt.
But the punt took a wild turn, forcing Browns rookie Antonio Callaway to call for his special-teams receiving unit to clear out. Fellow rookie Nick Chubb didn't get the message and ran right under the ball, with it appearing to glance off his helmet. Sean Davis saw this and jumped for the ball, beating Callaway to the punch and securing a turnover on what he thought was a muffed punt. Both the Browns and the Steelers looked sure on the field it was a turnover, but the officials ruled that Chubb never touched it and Davis merely downed the punt.
Tomlin challenged the play and the CBS broadcast team of Greg Gumbel and Trent Green immediately stated they thought the ball clearly changed directions after bouncing up and touching Chubb's helmet. Even the crowd at First Energy Stadium groaned upon seeing the replay, thinking that the call would be overturned. But it wasn't:
Decision: Blown call
Tomlin made the right challenge, even though it wasn't overturned.
There was no impact of the missed challenge, considering the Steelers would stop the Browns on the drive by forcing a turnover on downs. The Steelers had no use for timeouts when their defense held and took the Browns and their QB Tyrod Taylor to overtime with a Cameron Sutton interception.
Sept. 30, 2018: Steelers vs. Ravens, 14-14
Third quarter
Just a few weeks later, Tomlin challenged a close call in another division game. This time it was the Ravens and Lamar Jackson on a third-and-3 conversion. Jackson left his feet short of the line to gain, only to bump into the back of Alex Lewis who was being pushed by Cam Heyward.
Tomlin waited for a view on the Heinz Field scoreboard before challenging, and did so right before Joe Flacco could snap the ball for the next play.
But referee Al Riveron once again didn't agree with Tomlin and upheld the call. That did make sense after not seeing a clear landmark to base where Jackson landed with the ball. From one angle he looked like he made it, but from another he looked short:
Decision: Reasonable
The call being close and the momentum of the game made sense for the challenge. The Steelers had rallied back from a 14-0 deficit in the first half and the Ravens offense had all but stalled out after a hot start. Had the replay been overturned, John Harbaugh would've had to punt from his own 45 or go for it.
The reasoning against challenging a spot call sounds plausible on its face, considering how it makes sense that Riveron would stick with the call on the field. In fact, four of the nine upheld challenges we talk about in this series are spot calls. So maybe the moral of the story would be to not challenge spot calls, right?
Wrong. A quick glance at other coaches with stronger challenge records the past two seasons refutes that argument. Bill Belichick and Andy Reid were the two coaches in the AFC Championship Game last season and both had average challenge records the past two seasons with Riveron.
During that time, Belichick had six of his 13 challenges overturn the call on the field and Reid had five of 12. From those, Belichick challenged four spot calls and won two of them, while Reid challenged two and won one of them.
Each of those spot calls are a gamble, but it often depends on which side of the fence Riveron falls on for his decision. Tomlin has struck out each time in this regard.
Tomorrow, we'll get into the next two challenges that happened in 2018.
MORE CARTER’S CLASSROOM
July 16: Tomlin's challenge woes, Part 2
July 15: Tomlin's challenge woes, Part 1
July 12: Chickillo’s the failsafe at OLB
July 11: Tight end problem must be solved
