There are a bunch of self-inflicted reasons the Giants lost to the Steelers Monday night, but they appear to have been on the wrong side of a missed call.
Pittsburgh’s go-ahead punt return touchdown in the third quarter of the Giants’ 26-18 loss Monday night could have been called off because there was enough kicker interference to warrant a penalty, according to ESPN’s NFL rules analyst Russell Yurk.
“There’s definitely contact to the lower part of (punter Matt Haack’s) leg and the plant leg— and it’s probably enough to call a foul,” Yurk said during the game broadcast.
The touchdown, the first either team scored in the game, gave Pittsburgh a 16-9 lead with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter and helped break open what had been a tight game.
The Giants punted following a drive that included two penalties, one sack and resulted in a total of minus-seven yards with the teams tied at 9-all.
Haack lined up near the Giants’ 5-yard line, made a clean catch and delivered a timely kick.
But as the ball came off his foot, Steelers’ linebacker Jeremiah Moon launched in an attempt to block the punt.
Moon made no contact with the ball but full contact with Haack’s non-kicking leg.
The punter fell awkwardly over top of the linebacker while, 54 yards down field, Steelers return man Calvin Austin III began weaving his way through the G-men en route to a 73-yard touchdown.
Thinking aloud about why no foul was called on the play, Yurk — formerly the NFL’s vice president of instant replay and administration — said, “it looked like there was some blocking action by No. 45 [Tomon Fox] into [Haack].”
The replay, shown over top Yurk’s commentating, showed Fox pushing against Moon as he rushed toward the punter.
But Fox relinquished his pressure well before the defender made contact with the kicker — Moon took two additional steps and pivots his angle of approach before barreling into Haack.
There was a penalty called on the play, though not on Moon.
The Giants were flagged for an illegal formation, which Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin promptly denied.
Had Moon been assessed a roughing-the-punter violation, the penalties would have offset and the Giants would have re-kicked.
The loss marked the Giants’ third straight to drop them to 2-6, and they will take on the Commanders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m.