PITTSBURGH — After Sunday’s dramatic 27-24 Patriots win, referee Tony Corrente explained his reasoning why a late Pittsburgh touchdown call that would have given the Steelers’ the lead was overturned.
With 34 seconds to go, Ben Roethlisberger dropped back to pass and found tight end Jesse James from 10 yards out for what initially appeared to be a touchdown.
But Corrente said James did not have control.
Corrente explained: “We were inside of two minutes, and in order to have a completed pass, a receiver must survive going to the ground. In this case, he had control of the football, but he was going to the ground. As he hit the ground, the ball began to roll and rotate, and the ball hit the ground. And that’s the end of it at that point.”
The ruling was changed to an incomplete pass. Two plays later, Duron Harmon picked off a Roethlisberger catch in the end zone, allowing the Patriots to come away with the win.
Corrente said the terminology that’s used in those sorts of situations is simple.
“He just didn’t survive the ground,” Corrente said. “That’s the terminology that we use in officiating. You have to survive the ground, which means that you have to maintain control of the football.
"He went to the ground and had lost control of the ball. The ball hit the ground and that means, at that point, it’s an incomplete pass whether he was touched or not.”
"I thought that (James) crossed the plane before the ball hit the ground," said Roethlisberger. "But the rule is you must possess it all the way through."
"It's really irrelevant how I feel about it to be honest with you," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. "It's not going to change the outcome of the game. I'm not going to cry over spilled milk and all of that crap and talk about replay. I ain't doing it."
The league issued the following video to explain the ruling.
The video is an explanation from @NFL SVP of Officiating Al Riveron on the reversal at the end of the #NEvsPIT game. pic.twitter.com/hm5EeoZTER
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) December 18, 2017