Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had a quick, six-word expletive-laden message to a down judge as he was being told of his team’s offensive penalties in the first quarter
Mike Tomlin gave a referee a quick, expletive message after seemingly disagreeing with what he was told (
Image: X/ @NFLonFOX)
Mike Tomlin had a quick, expletive-laden message to a referee in the first quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles.
With about four minutes remaining in the first quarter, cameras spotted the Steelers coach chatting with down judge Derick Bowers on the sideline. The two appeared to be chatting about the offensive penalties on the Steelers throughout the first quarter and at first, all seemed calm between the two.
As Bowers continued to explain the infractions the Steelers committed, Tomlin began to look more and more incredulous from what he was hearing. He soon began to back away from the down judge before seemingly dropping a six-word message to Bowers.
“Get the —- away from me,” Tomlin was spotted allegedly saying as he waved his hand in front of Bowers. The irritated Steelers coach then walked away from the ref, ending the conversation before it could seemingly escalate further.
At the time of the brief exchange, the Steelers found themselves down 3-0, thanks to a Jake Elliott 34-yard field goal with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first quarter. Chris Boswell evened up the game briefly by nailing a 37-yard attempt before the Eagles found A.J. Brown in the end zone to give them a seven-point lead.
The Eagles then scored another touchdown, this time with Jalen Hurts finding DeVonta Smith in the second quarter. Not to be outdone, Russell Wilson connected with Pat Freiermuth for a touchdown – with Boswell’s point-after attempt good – to cut the lead to seven.
Mike Tomlin did not want to hear from the official about his team’s offensive penalties ( Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Boswell and Elliott exchanged field goals at the end of the second quarter and midway through the third to keep the game close. For the Steelers, they were competing shorthanded as star wideout George Pickens missed the clash with a hamstring issue.
Pickens currently leads the Steelers with 850 receiving yards on 55 catches with three touchdowns this season. And despite missing one of the top targets, Wilson currently is able to keep the Steelers in the game – like he has for most of the season – much to Terry Bradshaw’s chagrin.
In the past, Bradshaw was an ardent supporter of Justin Fields, believing the young signal caller was more deserving of the starting nod than Wilson. However, with the Steelers sitting at 10-3 this season, the NFL legend admitted he was wrong and should have trusted Tomlin’s judgment.
On ‘FOX NFL Sunday,’ Bradshaw explained his rationale as to why he wanted Fields to start over Wilson before giving the Steelers head coach his flowers. “I just marveled at the fact that Tomlin was able to make this move after sitting Justin Fields down,” he said. “Their record was four and two, folks.
“They weren’t losing and Fields wasn’t playing badly. He just thought that Wilson was better suited for their offense and they’d be more explosive. He was exactly right. And you know what? I was wrong. He was right. He knows better than I do.”
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