Most of you are going to read the headline and think this is about Jesse James‘ overturned touchdown: it’s not.

When it was discovered that the NFL had assigned referee Tony Corrente and his crew to Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots game, the implications were huge. Corrente’s crew had thrown the most flags during the 2017 season, and of the top four games with the most penalties this year, Corrente’s crew had officiated three of them.

Thus, it was difficult to decipher just how Corrente’s crew only pulled out their orange hankies either times in Sunday’s game. Six of those penalties were assessed to the Steelers for 63 yards, while the Patriots were only flagged twice… for a whopping four yards!

Four yards… and that’s not a typo. Brandin Cooks had an illegal touch which was assessed for zero yards, and a false start at New England’s 16-yard line was assessed the “other” four. In fact, you’d think the Patriots had played such perfect football all evening or that the referees just decided to let the teams play…

I’m going to go with more of the latter.

With 30 seconds left in the first half, the Steelers offense was staring down a 3rd-and-goal from the New England four-yard line. Ben Roethlisberger steps back to pass, looks for his target and finds Martavis Bryant, who somehow makes a miraculous one-handed grab for the touchdown.

Yet, upon review, you can see that Bryant is grabbed, held, and harassed throughout the entire play. Heck, he was forced to make a one-handed catch because his other hand was pinned behind him by Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore.

The point should be moot, because the Steelers declined the penalty for the six points, right?

Wrong! There was NO FLAG on the play. Not one official, from a crew that is known to call ticky-tack fouls mind you, recognized anything wrong during that entire route run by Bryant.

So why is this important? Every scoring play is reviewed. Let’s say that on this catch, there was a similar “issue” as with Jesse James overturned touchdown, and the play doesn’t stand. Hypothetically, if it’s not a catch and not a touchdown, the Steelers are left holding an empty basket.

At the very least, a flag should be thrown here: if the play stands, the penalty is declined. If the play is overruled, Coach Tomlin can decide to accept the penalty, which would give the Steelers the ball on the 1-yard line with an automatic first down.

Yes, something stinks here, and it leads to the big fish to fry (pun intended) at the end of the game.

This time, Patriots CB Eric Rowe jumps in front of Steelers WR Eli Rogers, deflecting the ball which would be intercepted by Rowe’s teammate Duron Harmon.

However, Rowe clearly grabs and holds Roger’s jersey:

One more freeze frame shot: would you say this is an advantage?

I will once again reiterate: this is the officiating team who had the most flags in the NFL this season. Take your pick here, as pass interference or defensive holding would each move the ball closer to the goal line and give the Steelers an automatic first down (and the potential to run more one more play, rather than send the field goal unit out had the pass been incomplete).

How do these penalties go unnoticed in a game with so much hanging in the balance?

I’ll leave that answer to you.