The Cleveland Browns were deep in Pittsburgh Steelers’ territory with under two minutes to go in the contest when the officials made a crucial call during the Thursday night contest.
On the first play after the two-minute warning, quarterback Jameis Winston was hit as he threw the football, and center Ethan Pocic was the first player to touch the pass.
Cleveland avoided a critical intentional grounding call as offensive guard Michael Dunn reported as an eligible receiver on the play, and the player was in the area near the pass.
#PITvsCLE jameis winston's illegal touch pass play that was initially ruled intentional grounding. it apppears he was trying to throw it deep to the two receivers in the middle of the field. luckily for him, he couldn't get it off, because otherwise may have been INT pic.twitter.com/i4hHOhDTWT
— Lamar owns Herbert (@619lexus) November 22, 2024
Instead of a potential fourth down with an intentional grounding call, the Browns were able to replay the down five yards deeper after the officials conferred.
The non-call allowed Cleveland to continue the drive with a third-down-and-six instead of a fourth down, and Winston found wide receiver Jerry Jeudy for the team’s only third-down conversion of the game.
The non-call was one that insider Mike Florio ripped on Sunday morning after NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson defended it on “GameDay Morning.”
“This wasn’t a quarterback lining up a throw and getting hit from behind unsuspectingly and having the ball land in an area where no one was. This was a quarterback having an oh (expletive) moment as he faced a certain sack, so he threw the ball and hoped for the best,” Florio wrote.
Florio added that “common sense” should have prevailed as Winston was throwing to a lineman significantly behind the line of scrimmage, a play that few quarterbacks would have attempted to make.
The insider believes the non-call affected the outcome of the game as an intentional grounding penalty would have forced Cleveland back to the Pittsburgh 38-yard line on a fourth-down-and-15 play.
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