Rooney: Penalty was right call, but …
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Steelers owner Dan Rooney declined Monday to side with coach Bill Cowher in criticizing the disputed overtime penalty that led to Pittsburgh’s 34-31 playoff loss to Tennessee. As Joe Nedney missed a 31-yard field goal attempt in Saturday’s divisional game, Dewayne Washington was called for running into the kicker, a 5-yard penalty. Nedney then kicked a 26-yarder to end the Steelers’ season and send the Titans to Sunday’s AFC championship game in Oakland.
Cowher, still furious a half-hour after the game ended, called the penalty “ludicrous” and said no game should be decided on such a minor judgment call.
Rooney didn’t like that the call essentially ended the Steelers’ season, but said referee Ron Blum’s crew followed the letter of the rule.
“There’s no question there was contact and when there’s contact, they make the call,” Rooney said. “I think in a situation like that, it would have been better if he had not made it (the call), but …”
Rooney also wouldn’t criticize Blum for seeking clarification from a league official whether Cowher could seek a replay review of a long punt return. Cowher argued that Derrick Mason’s knee hit the ground during the return.
Blum initially announced that he did not think the play could be reviewed, only to be told that it could. He then upheld Cowher’s challenge.
“The official should know the rules, but the league said – and I’m not sticking up for the league – that he did the right thing,” Rooney said. “It’s the old story, if you don’t know something, you get a book and read it.”
Asked about the growing number of disputed calls in the playoffs, including a misinterpreted pass interference penalty that might have cost the Giants a first-round victory at San Francisco, Rooney said:
“I think there’s some room for improvement, so you do what you can to help them (the officials),” Rooney said. “But you don’t want to overreact because of something that happened in the Giants’ game.”
However, Rooney – a Hall of Famer and one of the NFL’s most influential owners – might urge the league to take another look at how clubs are seeded for the playoffs.
Over the last two seasons, only one wild-card winner has won a divisional game: Philadelphia, which beat Chicago last season. Since 1990, teams with byes hold a 43-9 edge, including a 24-2 advantage in the NFC.
“The bye really gives people an advantage,” Rooney said. “Every team that had a bye won (last weekend), every team but us got blown out. I think we should definitely look at it. But I’m not for adding more teams, so you’ve got to figure out a way, and I don’t know what it is at this time.
“The first reaction will be to add teams, and I don’t want to see us getting like other sports. There once were only two byes, one in each conference, but that extends the season, and we can’t afford to extend the season. We’re going into February now.”
Since the wild-card games began in 1978, the NFL has awarded byes in every season except strike-shortened 1982, when eight teams in each conference advanced to the playoffs.
Rooney also may lobby for doing away with sudden death overtime by guaranteeing that both teams get the ball at least once on offense. The Steelers never had the ball in overtime before losing on Nedney’s field goal.
“We’d have to put some restrictions on it,” he said. “Say, if the other team kicks a field goal, you’ve got to go for a touchdown.”