BALTIMORE —The Baltimore Ravens thought they had an interception midway through the fourth quarter, but officials instead ruled that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had possession of the ball after his pass got deflected by C. J. Okoye. Rodgers said after the game it was his "David Tyree" moment.
"I was trying to bat it down. I was trying to get my hand on top of it and push it down, and when I did, I felt whoever's big paw was in there. So I kind of had to David Tyree for a second, and then it was kind of a battle for the football," Rodgers said after the Steelers' 27-22 win over the Ravens on Sunday. "I didn't realize at the time my knees were down, I was just struggling with it, but he was grabbing on my left wrist, and there was some extracurricular [activity] at the bottom of the pile. And I was just pissed jogging off the field, so I'm glad that call went our way."
The Ravens would've had the ball at the Steelers' 32-yard line with 7:01 remaining, trailing 27-22. It was one of several questionable calls in the Ravens' loss.
NFL VP of instant replay Mark Butterworth explained in the pool report why the officials reversed Teddye Buchanan 's interception.
" The offensive player had control of the ball and as he was going to the ground, there was a hand
in there, but he never lost control of the ball and then his knees hit the ground in control. So therefore, by
rule, he is down by contact with control of the ball," Butterworth said.
Butterworth added that Rodgers had initial possession.
"The offense had initial control of the ball and ended up being down by contact," he said.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh strongly disagreed with the officials ruling.
"He didn't survive the ground. … You've got to make a catch there and survive the ground. I don't know why it was ruled the way it was," Harbaugh said after the game.
Alan Saunders and Brendan Howe provided reporting from Baltimore.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Aaron Rodgers Explains Crucial Catch to Prevent Ravens' INT
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