Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick took issue with an unnecessary roughness penalty he received during Sunday’s loss to the Colts.
Fitzpatrick hit Colts wideout Adonai Mitchell as a pass fell incomplete on a third down, but the penalty extended the drive and the Colts wound up extending their lead to 24-10. Fitzpatrick said after the game that it shouldn’t have been a penalty because he didn’t hit Mitchell in the head while going for the ball and head coach Mike Tomlin said at his Tuesday press conference that he also thought it was an incorrect call.
Tomlin added that the league office agreed.
“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 mistake in-game, we better be prepared to overcome that as well.”
Tomlin added that the Steelers still had opportunities to win the game after the penalty while reiterating that it’s on the team to respond in the face of any kind of negative developments.