Paul Zeise: Steeler loss is on the players, not the refs -- they should look in the mirror

Steelers' fans have been outraged all week about the call in the New England game that cost them a touchdown -- and a possible win -- but Post-Gazette columnist Paul Zeise disagrees with their analysis. 

Here is the gist of what he wrote earlier this week: "Blaming the refs is misguided and the Steelers should look into the mirror when looking for someone to blame ... frankly, the Steelers had the game won and choked."

NFL rule stinks

First, my analysis. The rule about controlling the ball the entire way through the catch is a very poor one. It says that if a player does not control the ball on a reception to the ground, then there is no reception. Based upon that, the officials overruled the touchdown. Granted, the ball broke the plane of the goal line and was in the possession of tight end Jesse James. However, it hit the ground when he came down, and by rule, that makes it an incomplete pass and negates everything else. 

From this standpoint, the officials made the correct call. 

Of course, there is the rule that says if the ball breaks the plane of the goal line, it is a touchdown. However, that is not the case if someone comes down with a pass and does not control the ball the entire way to the ground. Mike Tomlin, by the way, was on the rules committee when this rule was adopted.

Zeise is correct

Second, I despise the Patriots, their coach, their QB, their owner, the entire organization. However, Zeise's analysis is this: The Steelers blew it and should not have had to rely on the that particular play. 

He summarizes his argument this way: "You can blame the refs all you want if it makes you feel better, but you're fooling yourself. This loss is squarely on the Steelers' shoulders."

Give Zeise credit. He is the only writer at the Post-Gazette who will take a contrarian view and has the cajones to criticize the top brass of Pittsburgh franchises and players. He demonstrates that when he hammers -- justifably -- quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the process. 

Most of the PG writers, particularly Ed Bouchette, lick the shoelackes of the QB. Not Zeise, though he may go overboard.

Nails #7 

Zeise makes a very valid argument that with good play from Roethlisberger down the stretch, like the Patriots received from their QB, Tom Brady, the game could have been at least a tie. "It wasn't the refs who forced Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to make an idiotic decision to force a ball to a covered receiver to force a ball to a covered receiver to end the game with an unnecessary interception." Yes, if Roethlisberger had thrown the ball away, the Steelers could have forced OT and perhaps won the game. 

However, note that he refers to it as an "idiotic decision." He goes further. 

Zeise notes that Roethlisberger tried to blame offensive coordinator for the throw. "... Roethlisberger so, in  his standard passive-aggressive way of deflecting blame, he threw offensive coordinator Todd Haley under the bus. ... it still wasn't Haley's fault that Roethlisberger stared Eli Rogers down and threw the ball into triple coverage ... all he had to do was throw the ball out of the end zone once he saw Rogers wasn't open."

He was right about Roethlisberger. He never takes the blame. However, the comparison of the two QBs was evident. Brady is now 11-2 against the Steelers, and that means that Roethlisberger has been able to beat Brady only two times. 

When Brady had the game on his shoulders, he led the Patriots down the field in short order, picking apart the Steeler defense like he did last January en route to the Super Bowl with an overwhelming victory.

Roethlisberger could not close the deal.

Hammers the coaches too

However, Zeise is critical of the coaches, too, particularly on that winning drive. After criticizing Tomlin and Haley for becoming too conservative too early, he added, "The Steelers defensive play-calling on the Patriots' winning drive was atrocious, too. Why was Sean Davis given the assignment of trying to cover Rob Gronkowski with no help at the most critical point in the game?" Good question. Isn't Tomlin a defensive guy? Didn't they know that Gronk is their money receiver?

Final analysis: Zeise made a persuasive argument

His basic analysis is correct. "The Steelers dominated the Patriots for about 52 minutes, but then in the final eight minutes, they lost their minds and blew the game."

As a person who graded persuasive essays and papers for decades, this was a very persuasive argument. The NFL rule is lousy, but the interpretation was correct and the Steelers lost the game themselves, not because of the refs. 

Case closed.