The final Cleveland drive on Thursday night received a five-yard boost after Steelers defensive back Beanie Bishop was flagged for defensive delay of game. He shouldn’t have been.
The relevant rule includes a catch-all provision that lists specific types of “other delay of game fouls,” including but not limited to “spiking or throwing the ball in the field of play after a down has ended, except after a score” and “intentional contact with the football to delay the snap or the officials ability to make the ball ready for play.”
Bishop knocked the ball out of receiver Jerry Jeudy’s hands after a play. But Bishop seemed to believe there was a chance the play wasn’t over.
Jeudy made a catch and, apparently, wasn’t touched after he hit the ground. He got up, and Bishop punched out the ball.
While Jeudy might have been touched by a Steelers defender, it was close enough for Bishop to knock the ball free, just in case. It was a smart, head’s-up play.
The only problem is that it was more head’s-up than the official, who by all appearances had his head up his butt.
Common sense is all too often ignored by officials who get too caught up in the language of the rules. That tendency can make an official into, as Marv Levy once said, an “over-officious jerk.”