NFL: Steelers' game-winning touchdown to Antonio Brown was a legal play

·NFL writer

October 14, 2018 at 11:57 p.m.

NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron might have anticipated some controversy over Antonio Brown’s dramatic game-winning touchdown for the Pittsburgh Steelers, so on Sunday night he explained why the play was legal.

It appeared Steelers receiver Justin Hunter might have set an illegal pick on Bengals cornerback Tony McRae. Brown motioned to a spot just outside of Hunter, ran a slant inside of Hunter while Hunter and McRae made contact with each other. That gave Brown a lane to the end zone, especially since the Bengals had an all-out blitz called, and he scored a 35-yard touchdown in the final seconds. The Steelers won 28-21.

While it looked like possible offensive pass interference, Riveron said it wasn’t because the defensive player initiated the contact.

“The contact is initiated by the defender, and therefore the receiver is not responsible for this contact,” Riveron said on the officiating video.

Bengals not happy with the non-call

That won’t help the Bengals feel better. They were miffed after the game.

“They’re good at running picks and stuff like that, and we let them do it again,” Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap said, according to The Athletic.

Bengals safety Clayton Fejedelem didn’t feel like it was a clear call.

“Depends who is reffing the game,” Fejedelem said, according to The Athletic. “It can go either way. That’s the thing about those calls. They can say it is unintentional or whatever, but it’s a crap shoot.”

Steelers escape with a win

It was an intense game for both sides. The Bengals have had a tough time against the Steelers in recent meetings, losing some heartbreaking games. The Steelers came into the game with a 2-2-1 record and didn’t want to dig a deeper hole.

It doesn’t help that there were some hard feelings over how the game ended. But the NFL made sure to explain right away why its officials did the right thing in not making what would have been an enormous penalty call, because it said the defensive player was responsible for the contact.

Antonio Brown runs away from Bengals defenders to score Pittsburgh’s game-winning touchdown. (AP)

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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