The Cleveland Browns’ final possession Thursday night was full of referee intervention, but none of the calls quite broke the Pittsburgh Steelers’ way. The most notable penalty, and one that likely would have won the game for the Steelers, was the lack of an intentional grounding penalty on third down. It would have made it fourth and very long and out of feasible field goal range.

To make matters worse, there was a penalty flag thrown, but it was for an ineligible receiver touching the ball first before it hit the ground. Mike Tomlin controversially accepted that illegal-touching penalty to give the Browns another third-down attempt from only five yards back. It was a lengthy stoppage while everything was sorted out with the broadcast drawing lines for the tackle box while speaking about the possibility of intentional grounding.

Former NFL ref Gene Steratore joined 102.5 WDVE with Randy Baumann Friday morning to discuss the no call and explain why it was the correct one by Brad Allen and his crew.

“Even though if contact isn’t extremely significant, if the quarterback begins his throwing motion to a receiver or in some area and then is hit by a defensive player as that motion begins, where the football goes from that point on is irrelevant,” Steratore said. “Whether it gets back to the line of scrimmage, whether there’s no receiver in the area or whatever the case may be.”

This is laid out in the NFL rulebook under Rule 8, Section 2, Item 2.

Item 2. Physical Contact. Intentional grounding should not be called if:

the passer initiates his passing motion toward an eligible receiver and then is significantly affected by physical contact from a defensive player that causes the pass to land in an area that is not in the direction and vicinity of an eligible receiver.

Football is a game of inches and milliseconds, and Patrick Queen was unfortunately a split second too late. Not that he could have gotten there any quicker, but Browns QB Jameis Winston started his throwing motion just before Queen hit him. There is a fine line between a sack, an incompletion, and an intentional grounding, and unfortunately it ended up being the worst outcome for the Steelers.

Below is a clip of the play.

If you pause it frame by frame, you can see Winston wind up just before contact. Yes, the Steelers’ loss was that painfully close to being a win. Such is life in the NFL, and they should have never been in that situation to begin with.