FIRST TAKE | Steelers beat Ravens was fools gold. They still need to Fire Mike T. – Stephen A. Smith

FIRST TAKE | Steelers beat Ravens was fools gold. They still need to Fire Mike T. – Stephen A. Smith

zone. He’s got his man. But did he hold it? Yes. Isaiah likely. Touchdown Ravens. And the Ravens take the lead with 243 left to play. He made the catch. He came down. He took one, two steps. And then Joey Porter Jr. knocked the ball out of his hands. That was a touch. What? Number one Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Oh, John Harbaugh cannot believe this. Many could not believe that. Let me tell you that play you just watched is the one that got everyone talking yesterday. Overturned touchdown call. Cost the Ravens the game. You can say Damen Woody joins us now here on First Take. What do you think? Did Isaiah likely get robbed of a touchdown? Absolutely. Absolutely. And that that word salad of a pool report that came out by the NFL is just literally trying to cover their behind for the simple fact that that was a touchdown catch. Literally, you’re in the end zone. You catch the ball one, two, that’s it. You’re not in the field of play. You’re literally in the end zone. In the same game, we literally saw Aaron Rogers throw a pass that got tipped up in the air. He caught it for a split second and they ruled that it was a reception. So you you rule that a reception, but what Isaiah likely did in the end zone, you ruled that it’s not it’s not a it’s not a touchdown catch. I think the NFL is making this thing way too complicated. It just like goes back to when like uh when Dez Bryant caught the ball and said it wasn’t a catch when it really was a catch. This thing should not be as complicated as what the NFL is making it to be. That was absolutely catch and the Ravens were robbed of that touchdown yesterday against Pittsburgh. I love that we’re showing the Des Bryant catch. Cam, what do you think? Uh, remove all doubt. And I think when you make a play like this, you leave it into other people’s hands to make their own decision. And yeah, to your point, Damian, it’s one to touchdown, but it’s also a fine line that says one to control touchdown. I don’t think, you know, uh, Isaiah likely had full control over the football. And it’s just unfortunate because it could have went either way. I’m not here to say that it wasn’t a catch or it is a catch. I’m here to say knowing the the circumstance of an offensive player, remove all doubt. They teach you to bring the ball into your body as much as you can, go down with full control, and it was too much of a a a risk to put it in the official’s hands. And that was the outcome. Yeah, but it was still an awful call. It was a robbery. And I’m a Steelers fan and even I have to admit that the man caught the ball and came two feet down and came one, two, that’s a touchdown. All right. There’s no way that it should have been overturned. It needed to be definitive and conclusive. And I don’t think that they can say that in order to overturn a call. I thought it was bogus on their part. And I had their explanation. And this is according to NFL vice president of Instant Replay, Mark Butterworth. Here’s what he said. The receiver controlled the ball in the air, had his right foot down, then his left foot down. The control is the first aspect of the catch. The second aspect is two feet or a body part in bounds, which he did have. Then the third step is an act common to the game. And before he could get the third foot down, the ball was ripped out. Therefore, it was an incomplete pass. So, you’re Mr. Butterworth according to you in your own explanation. Did he catch the pass? Yes. Was there one foot down? Yes. Was there two feet down? Yes. But because there wasn’t a third foot down before the ball got knocked out of his hands, suddenly that’s an incomplete pass. That is the most bogus nonsense of a statement I’ve ever heard in my life. He might as well he might as well and just not even let anybody know that because now we all know Mr. Butterworth, okay, has acknowledged that it was a catch with two feet down and it’s still not a touchdown. Now, this is a sport where if you touch the pylon for crying out loud, okay, but then lose the ball, that’s still a touchdown. If you extend and get over the goal line, but then lose the ball, you were over the goal line, so that’s a touchdown. But a catch over the goal line with not one but two feet down is suddenly not a touchdown. I mean, make it make sense. That is just utterly ridiculous. It really is. Again, that was nothing but a word, Sally, that the NFL put out there to try to, you know, try to sway. What it what was clear to everyone out there. Basically, what they were saying is, well, he need to make a football move in the end zone. You are already in the end zone. There is no making a football move. You caught the ball. You had control. One foot down, two foot down. That’s it. That’s all it takes. So again, I just Baltimore got robbed. They got robbed as a touchdown. There’s no question about it. Look, this looks like a touchdown to me, too. But did they get robbed? Would they have won otherwise? Lamar Jackson did not have a great game. 63% completion percentage, 59 QBR, only rushed for 43 yards. It’s one of the worst in his career. I don’t know that that would have really changed anything. Hey. Yes. Go ahead, Shay. Let me put it to you this way. That would have given them the lead. Is that correct? Correct. That would have given them the lead, but it’s a team sport. The Steelers The Steelers had a grand total The Steelers had a grand total of eight yards of offense in the fourth quarter. Well, I didn’t do the gross yards for, so why should I believe that they wouldn’t have won? Um, eight yards. Well, that’s a good point. In the fourth quarter. That’s a good point by one Stephen A. But my point is it wasn’t a complete and total win and an obvious runaway by either team it felt like yesterday. So I don’t know if that touchdown by Isaiah likely would have really really truly made us feel good about the Ravens. Let’s go to the Steelers side of it really quick. Stephen A, let’s hear from Aaron Rogers because a lot has been said about the Steelers during their struggles. Here’s what happened yesterday after they escaped with the win. Listen to Aaron Rogers. What does it mean to get a win like this after the week that you guys have had and the week that my challenge has? Means maybe you guys would shut the hell up for a week. He wishes but we’re not going to we’re not gonna not on this show. What did you make of his comments Stephen A? What did you think about the Steelers? my my man. Well, everybody knows I love me some Aaron Rogers, man. And I ain’t mad at that brother at all because he does need to clap back when he has the moments. He just needs to understand that it’s a rarity because based on the Steelers recent history, he says that in six days later, they get their ass kicked. So, he he has his moment right now and he’s entitled to it. But me personally, as a Steelers fan, you know what? At some point in time, Cam D. Woody, I just want the Steelers to tell us who they are. What I mean by that is touch on greatness or stink. This this modern era of mediocrity that they’ve saddled us with where they make the playoff six times in nine years, but they haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. We’ve seen absolutely nothing that has indicated to us that anything is going to change. You know what? Maybe if you stink up the joint, you’ll find a quarterback because you’ll be you’ll have a high enough draft pick to acquire one. Okay? Because if based on what we saw yesterday, I mean, people might consider this good news or whatever. Ain’t nobody questioning Mike Tomlin as a coach. We’re questioning the l the absence of postseason results because the standard is the standard and it hasn’t been met. And there’s nothing wrong with Steel Nation sitting up there and feeling like, yo, we’ve given it enough time. We might need a new voice. We know that Mike Tomlin would get another job tomorrow because he’s just that special. But the point is, this is about the Steelers. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. They’re 0 and6 in that span. In that span, they have been they have been down by at least 21 points in every single game. They’ve never had a lead. And on top of it all, they’ve been outscored in the first quarter 73 to zero. So, not only have they now won a playoff game since 2016, they have scored a point in the first quarter of a playoff game since 2016. this is what we’re looking at and you can’t find a quarterback or anything like that. And so you go there yesterday and everybody’s talk about like so much is on the line. You know what you did? You won a game. You’re top the AFC North again. You’re you’re in a good position because espec especially with Cincinnati losing to make the playoffs. So who you going to beat? You going to beat Buffalo? You going to beat New England? You going to beat Houston? Cuz Houston’s coming. You going to beat Denver? You g you gonna go to Denver and beat Denver. You going to beat the Chargers, you know? I mean, who you going to beat? You’re going home again without a playoff loss, without a playoff win, rather. That’s what we’re looking at. That’s their situation. So, let Aaron Rogers talk. He’s entitled. Just understand it’s likely only for six days. Yeah. Well, I’ll say this. I I love everything that Aaron Rogers said, you know, because it is truth. But the also truth to this is we’re talking because you talk first A-Rod last week during this same time you were speaking about you know underperformances and mis throws on your part and you know just making sure that the signals and the miscommunications and things like that. Well that’s the reason why we’re talking Mike Tomlin’s future in Pittsburgh. Yeah it the noise was extremely loud. So this moment is yours, but you cannot say that you didn’t do your part in turning up the volume just a smidge. So needless to say, the thing that while watching this game, the Pittsburgh Steelers always show up when they play the Baltimore Ravens. There’s no question, there’s no if ends or buts about it. But my real question is where has DK Metave, this version of DK Metave in the first half DK Metave, you know, been all year because his dominance is so so visual that it’s like, yo, bro, like you have a 100 plus yard game receiving and then you also are the same person that just have 16 to 26 yards receiving as well. The math just don’t math. So, you know, as far as the the comments, it really comes to a point where a lot of those comments were heightened uh uh internally from what the Pittsburgh Steelers have done. What does Aaron Rogers want a cookie? I mean, like literally like like look man, you had about time you showed up. This is what they brought you in for. You know what I mean? Like this is this is probably the first time in over a month that we’ve seen a pass travel plus pass 20 yards to DK Metaf. I mean like like you now you want to sit there go to the podium and and gloat a little bit like okay look look what we’ve done. At the end of the day, none of this m at the end of the day, you were brought here because the Pittsburgh Steelers pushed their chips all the way in with all the moves that they made this off seasonason for one reason and one reason only because this organization felt going to the season that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to going to be a team that’s going to challenge in the AFC to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Does anybody on this panel think that the Pittsburgh Steelers could represent the AFC in the in the Super Bowl? Hell no. Like listen, congratulations for beating a compromised Baltimore Ravens team, a Lamar Jackson that’s clearly hurt, not probably playing the worst he’s played in years. So congratulations. I’ll give you that. You beat Baltimore yesterday. But no one no one on this panel thinks that the Pittsburgh Steelers with Aaron Rogers are going to do anything if they make the postseason. I can tell you that right now. Okay. And that will tie a bona and maybe he would like a cookie maybe with some things in it if you know what I’m saying. More first coming up next. Notre Dame. Left out of

FIRST TAKE | Steelers beat Ravens was fools gold. They still need to Fire Mike Tomlin – Stephen A. Smith