Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was unhappy with an unnecessary roughness penalty he received during Sunday’s loss to the Colts.
Fitzpatrick hit Colts wide receiver Adonai Mitchell as a pass went incomplete on third down, but the penalty kept the drive alive, and the Colts ended up increasing their lead to 24-10.
Fitzpatrick said after the game that it shouldn’t have been called because he didn’t hit Mitchell in the head while trying for the ball. Head coach Mike Tomlin also expressed his disagreement with the call during his Tuesday press conference.
Tomlin mentioned that the league office agreed with him.
“I didn’t like that call,” Tomlin said. “I talked to New York yesterday, they didn’t like that call as well, but that doesn’t help me on a Monday. On Sundays, we better be mentally tough and we better move on to the next snap and understand at times that’s a component of the game. The officials aren’t perfect; none of us are.
We make mistakes in-game that we have to overcome, and if they make a mistake in-game, we better be prepared to overcome that as well.”
Tomlin added that the Steelers still had chances to win the game after the penalty and emphasized that it’s the team’s responsibility to respond to any negative situations.
