Did Munch deserve the flag?

After watching several times, it looks like he was trying to protect himself and didn't deliberately grab the hair. Seems like the shove by a player should have warranted a flag too. Maybe offsetting?

 

Disagree, sadly. Stopping the guy's progress to prevent injury to him and you is one thing - grabbing his arm (and by proxy, catching some of his stupid dreads in the process) and twisting him away from you in response to a play is a no-no. As a player, you don't touch coaches or refs. As a coach, you don't touch players or refs.

Heat of the moment type thing, but he should have known better.

 

I dont think he deserved it but I may be a bit biased!

 

what i saw was after both players went out of bounds...the bengal player made a small turn as if he was gonna get in todmans face..and Munch grabbed him to stop him from doing that...

 

Munch did grab him and swing him around but I felt the push back was even more egregious and it should have at least received a compensatory flag.

 

I agree with this. The Bengals player was going to try and intimidate Todman or something. He was walking in that direction as he shoved Munchak.

50/50 who to call it on.

I would have thought the retaliatory shove by the Bengal would have drawn a penalty but no.

I feel like the Williams hit on Wheaton should not have been called as it was shoulder to shoulder.

Game was poorly officiated in that they were giving 15 yarders away like candy.

I'm more pissed off that Shazier didn't get a 90 yard fumble return for a TD that he should have had. Thats where the refs robbed the Steelers. Remember that it would have been 22-0 if the refs had called the game properly when Bengals fans cry about officiating.

 

and..if Shazier gets the TD..Ben isnt injured deep in our zone...

 

As I said in the thread last night, I can understand why Munch got the flag, but for them to flag JUST him was a joke. Either both of them got flagged, or none of them did

 

The refs were horrible...pacman Jones...I'm still laughing. Let me get this straight...you and your thuggish friend and weak coach are crying about not getting a call or getting calls in your favor?
We may have lost a qb and we from the refs not making the right calls all night. Thank God that justice prevailed or you all would've gotten away with another one.oh and by the way, expect some mail from the commish....Punks!

 

Did it warrant a flag? Possibly but as has been said it should have been offsetting. The play is over no need for him to go deeper into the Pittsburgh sideline. Yes he could have been trying to tell Todman something but no get him out of there. Offsetting definitely.

 

The refs were TRYING to establish control of the game and in that context I think the flag was correct. However, how the Bengals didn't get a hit out of bounds is beyond me.

Not to defend Munch, you've gotta be smarter than that especially as a HoFer, but we don't know what was said right there to cause that response.

 

I'm glad Munch got the flag, fueled that dumbass Jones to keep pushing how much crap he could get away with. Which led to the chip shot heard 'round the world

 

Right before munch tried to stop him, i thought munch was grabbing him because there was something behind his feet and he didn't want to fall backwards

 

No

 

Should have been offsetting imo. Munch tried to throw him and then Nelson pushed him back. Munch tried to stop him from going into the bench but the player did not let up it seemed. Whatever... I loved seeing Munch get fired up about it.

 

Munch shouldn't have pulled the hair. If that didn't happen.... He would have been just fine. I was ok with the penalty

 

Definitely true but if Haley calls a safe run play/delayed draw on 3 and 18, Ben isn't injured either

 

I honestly didn't see any real malicious intent there. Munch caught him, turned him a bit almost as a follow through, and his fingers got tangled in the hair (though we all know that's not a penalty from the years of watching Polamalu get dragged down by the locks). These refs may have been attempting to control the game early, but they didn't have a chance without ejections. They let it get way too out of hand with no consequences the last game, so they were already in a control deficit. Many players don't care enough about lost yards and fines for it to effect their actions right now, so nothing short of removing them from the field will work, in my opinion. Refs aside, I hold Marvin Lewis equally as culpable, if not more so for last night's debacle. He had Burfict going nuts all over the sideline with him, other players, and refs trying to calm him down. You'd have to be stupid or completely incompetent to not see what happened coming with Ben and AB. Lewis had a responsibility to be smart and keep Burfict on the bench to avoid injuries and penalties, and he simply failed to make a good decision. If I were the head office, he'd be on the chopping block this morning.

 

Since when do OC's call running plays instead of passing plays in order to not get their QB injured? You play your game, injuries be damned.

 

I understand that but you also need to be aware of situational football (one of Tomlin's favorite cliches). They were going to a big pass play to pick up 18 yards which isn't likely so a different play call should have been in order.

 

I think there is no way Munch meant any harm however the way it looked made it look bad. Add the fact that most Bunholes have a chip on their shoulder no matter what happened there was gonna be a problem.

 

Yes, he did deserve it and I also fully expect him to get fined. You can't be shoving players like that as a coach, that's going way too far. I don't care the reason. Trash talk is one thing, but if you're a coach, keeps your hands off the players and vice versa.

 

I think he realized nelson was going after todman and he tried to stop him. The wide angle makes it look like munch was protecting todman after realizing it wasnt just momentum taking nelson to todman
http://steelerswire.usatoday.com/20...-line-penalty-flag-sideline-bengals-playoffs/