Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Keeanu Benton handed the New England Patriots a lifeline Sunday, drawing a roughing the passer penalty that erased an incompletion and immediately left him exposed to further punishment by the NFL.
Pittsburgh needed defensive stops against New England, and the penalty wiped out a promising one, leaving open how much it will cost Benton with a possible league fine still to come.
Drake Maye’s incomplete pass to DeMario Douglas should have set up second down at New England’s own 6-yard line. Instead, officials flagged Benton for roughing the passer, wiping out the incompletion and handing the Patriots an automatic first down at their 21.
Pittsburgh Steelers’ Keeanu Benton Awaits NFL Fine Decision
Roughing the passer carries a first-offense fine of $17,911 under the league’s fine schedule for 2026, with second offenses doubling toward $23,882. Carolina’s Derrick Brown drew that same fine amount this month for a hit on Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, the third-largest fine of Week 1. Brown called his own penalty a “bonehead move” that he “shouldn’t have done,” as quoted by A to Z Sports.
Players can appeal a fine to an appeals officer, and an uncontested fine comes out of the player’s next game check, according to NFL Football Operations. Benton also stands to benefit from a season-ending refund policy detailed in a report this summer: players fined once in a safety category such as roughing the passer get their money back in full if they avoid a repeat offense that season.
Any fine cannot exceed 10 percent of Benton’s per-game salary cap figure, though his four-year, $72 million extension, agreed to in August, according to The Athletic, makes the full fine amount more likely than a reduction.
Pittsburgh made Benton its second-round pick in 2023, 49th overall out of Wisconsin, where he finished his college career with 80 tackles and 9.0 sacks. The Janesville, Wisconsin, native has started 40 of 51 NFL games and totaled 123 tackles across three seasons, including a career-best 5.5 sacks in 2025. He posted three tackles and no sacks in Sunday’s loss.
No fine is official yet. The NFL typically issues its weekly discipline letters several days after games, meaning Benton and the Steelers will spend the week waiting to see whether Sunday’s flag costs him anything beyond field position.
Steelers’ Benton Penalty Extends Patriots Drive
Steelers beat reporter Nick Farabaugh called it a “free 15” for New England, writing shortly after the flag. Patriots reporter Evan Lazar described the sequence in his own post, noting Maye sprayed a pass over Pop Douglas in the flat before Benton’s penalty turned a defensive stand into a fresh set of downs.
New England won going away, 20-3, riding TreVeyon Henderson’s early touchdown run and a fourth-quarter Elijah Ponder fumble-return score, according to the game’s final box score.
Aaron Rodgers threw for 187 yards with an interception and lost the fumble that Ponder returned 19 yards for the clinching points. Benton’s flag did not directly produce points, but it kept alive a Patriots possession Pittsburgh needed to end.
Reaction split online. One fan called the penalty “a killer but pretty legit” in a post on X, while another fan likened the standard to flag football in a separate message on X. Referee Carl Cheffers’ crew treated the hit as a live foul in real time, and Sunday’s officiating crew faced its own separate scrutiny, with no all-22 breakdown yet available to settle the argument.
Steelers DT Keeanu Benton Faces NFL Punishment For Hit on Patriots Drake Maye