WTF moments for the Steelers and others during Week 10
Fresh off of a bye week and well-rested, ready to face one of the league’s worst teams, everyone was ready for the Steelers to destroy the Colts.
Oh wait… yeah, I saw the same game you did. WTF was that? I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot this season, but somehow some way, Pittsburgh still manages to pull out wins. They are now the king of the AFC at 7-2, but just barely.
The WTF moments began early in Indy with Ben Roethlisberger‘s deep pass intended for Martavis Bryant. Bryant couldn’t track the ball and didn’t put up much of a fight as it got picked off.
Another deep ball to Antonio Brown sailed through his hands… WTF Ben! Settle down!
He eventually would, finding TE Vance McDonald wide-open in the end zone during the fourth quarter. Ben said after the game that he thought he was throwing the ball away… he didn’t even see Vance?! WTF?!
However, more WTFs came from the special teams unit earlier in the game, which forced the Steelers to go for two to tie the game following McDonald’s score. Almost always consistent, Chris Boswell hit the uprights, missing a field goal which could’ve easily been the game winner before he hit the game winner.
Then there was the snafu on a blocked extra point try, which thank goodness Jesse James chased down the Colts defender and prevented them from putting two more points on the board (a return of a blocked punt counts for two points as of a few years ago).
Needless to say, kickers are at a premium these days, but that two-point try, the ensuing timeout and the delay of game penalty, as the Steelers had the wrong personnel on the field, was a giant WTF. Mike Tomlin was pulling the field goal unit off, running backs coach James Saxon was also on the field, and there was a visible verbal altercation between offensive coordinator Todd Haley and Roethlisberger. You could clearly see the TV camera pick up Haley lipping, “STFU Ben, STFU Ben!”.
WTF Haley? Really? (Okay, really. He’s known to be fiery on the sidelines!)
Want to add to the WTFs with this play? Martavis Bryant makes a clutch catch to tie the game. Whoa… there’s a name we haven’t heard called in a while!
That’s not all from the Steelers and Colts, as we could talk about the slow start and some other bad moments (such as the defense allowing the longest pass plays of the season). There were a lot of big WTFs in this game, but was there one bigger than Vince Williams stripping the football from Colts RB Frank Gore, only to have the officials huddle and claim his forward progress was stopped?
Oh yeah, forward progress isn’t reviewable either. Nevermind that there wasn’t a signal, whistle, or anything close to resembling a zebra stopping play before Williams stripped the ball away. WTF?!
Luckily Boswell kicked the game-winning field goal right down broadway for the win as time expired. I have to admit, I was biting my nails based on the previous kick attempts. Don’t scare us like that Chris! (If you haven’t noticed, kickers are at a premium these days.)
Around the league, there were some WTF moments that could not even make up if we wanted to. Vontaze Burfict is back to being Vontaze Burfict after hitting a referee and getting ejected from the game against the Titans. But somehow there’s no suspension for his altercation with the official… WTF?
Brock Osweiler‘s also back to being Brock Osweiler in the Broncos loss to the Patriots. If you are on the sideline of any Broncos game in the future watch out for flying footballs. WTF Brock?
Last but not least it looks like Dallas Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott is finally going to serve his six-game suspension for a domestic violence incident in college. The WTF here is for the Cowboys. If he had already served the time, he could have been reinstated and playing on Thanksgiving Day, and available for a postseason run. Talk about bad planning by Jerry Jones. WTF? Did they think they were going to beat the NFL on this?
Either way, it looks like the Cowboys are in trouble.
