Saban muffs challenge in opening loss
PITTSBURGH – In a stadium where more than 60,000 people were swinging towels in the air, it’s hard to imagine an NFL coach was shy about tossing a little red flag. That’s what happened to Nick Saban of the Miami Dolphins, and his mistake may have swung Thursday’s season opener in the Steelers’ favor.
With 6:25 left in the game and the Steelers trailing 17-14, quarterback Charlie Batch hooked up with tight end Heath Miller on a touchdown pass that covered 87 yards.
Except replays strongly suggested that Miller had gone out of bounds around the 2-yard line. That’s why the NFL has a replay rule and Saban was poised to challenge the call.
But he never got the attention of the officials and he didn’t throw the red challenge flag on the field until after the Steelers had snapped the ball for the extra point attempt.
The amazing thing is the Dolphins have 19 assistant coaches on their staff. When you have that many, you should put at least one on the field with a bugle to make sure the officials know you want to challenge a call.
Failing that, they could slingshot Saban onto the field so someone notices him. Nineteen assistants who were all so busy with other things that no one could have screamed to an official?
The staff is so bloated that the offensive line coach (Hudson Houck) has an assistant of his own (Tim Davis).
There are quality control coaches for both offense and defense, two special assistants to the head coach (including former NFL head coach Dom Capers).
They have a secondary coach and another assistant who just handles the safeties.
And nobody can help Saban get the challenge flag on the field in time?
That wouldn’t have happened on the other sideline.
Bill Cowher has a way of getting the referee’s attention and he fires the challenge flag like he’s whipping a dodgeball at an honors student.
Saban gave the flag a little underhanded flip, like he was trying not to hurt the grass. Had the Steelers been denied the touchdown, maybe they would have punched the ball in anyway. But Batch lost a fumble earlier on a play from the 1.
Who knows what happens, but a reversal would have taken six points off the board, at least for the moment.
The Dolphins will learn from the experience and presumably now have a good reason to hire a 20th assistant.
The Pirates continue to wear All-Star patches on their uniforms, even though the game was two months ago and San Francisco already has the 2007 All-Star logo in circulation.
You’re reminded of the neighbor whose Christmas lights are still up in March.
(John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehno@lycos.com)