The Steelers weren’t happy with the officiating during Sunday’s home loss to the Jaguars. After the game, receiver Diontae Johnson wasn’t afraid to say so.
“Refs were just killing us the whole game,” Johnson said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com. “The same refs we had at training camp. I didn’t like the refs today. At the end of the day, we can’t keep complaining about the refs. Like coach [Mike Tomlin] say, we can’t worry about the refs, whatever. But everybody’s different.
“I didn’t like the refs today. They must’ve got paid good today or something, but they blew -- that field goal, that hurt us coming into the half. We needed that.”
He’s referring to an offside call on the Steelers during a field goal attempted by the Steelers. A finding that guard Isaac Semualo had been lined up offside wiped out a successful 56-yard field goal by Chris Boswell. He missed the ensuing 61-yard try.
It prompted Tomlin to say to one of the officials (if lip reading can be trusted), “What the fuck is wrong with y’all today?”
After the game, referee Alan Eck defended the ruling: “His head was over the back edge of the ball so by rule that’s an offensive offside foul. It’s a live ball foul, so we let the play go through and then we mark off the five-yard penalty.”
Twitter has largely disagreed with the assessment.
Johnson was concerned about more calls than the field goal.
“They wanted them to win,” Johnson said, via Matt Ehalt of the New York Post. “They was calling . . . everything was in their favor. Every little call. But it is what it is. I’m moving on from it. I’m ready for Thursday.”
He also needs to be ready for the envelope from 345 Park Avenue communicating the amount of his fine, because there’s a good chance he’ll be punished financially for what he said about the officials.