Getty Brad Allen has been assigned to Saturday's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens
There has been a trend around the NFL this season.
Week after week, it seems like football fans find themselves dissecting blown calls regardless of how exciting the rest of the action on the field was that week.
Week 17 was no different as Brad Allen and his crew made multiple mistakes that changed the outcome of Saturday night’s game between the Lions and Cowboys.
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh Steelers fans, if Allen finds himself in the headlines again in Week 18, it could be at their expense.
According to Footballzebras.com, Allen has been assigned to the matchup between the Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.
It wasn’t anything new for Allen, as he also worked on the game between the Chiefs and the Packers, which featured a blatant pass interference that wasn’t called late in the game.
Brad Allen’s Rough Week 17
The Week 17 matchup between the Cowboys and Lions was expected to be an exciting clash between two teams fighting for home-field advantage in the playoffs and it delivered.
The game was competitive throughout and featured a thrilling ending as the Cowboys won by 1 point after the Lions were unsuccessful on a 2-point conversion attempt. That ending was marred by some poor officiating.
The call everybody was talking about in the immediate aftermath of the game came during the failed 2-point attempt, which ended up including 3 separate plays.
On the first play, the Lions appeared to have successfully converted to take the lead after Jared Goff completed a pass to lineman Taylor Decker in the end zone.
Then a flag came in for illegal touching. According to the refs, Dekker hadn’t reported as eligible. However, the replays told a different story.
To make matters worse, that wasn’t even the only important call the crew got wrong down the stretch.
On the previous drive, the Cowboys found themselves trying to kill the clock to hold onto a win after intercepting a pass from Goff just before the two-minute warning.
On the first play of the drive, Tony Pollard ran for 7 yards on a play that looked like it would set them up to put the game away.
Instead, tight end Peyton Hendershot was called for tripping and the Cowboys were pushed back 15 yards. Replays showed that it was actually Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson that guilty of tripping.
If the call had gone the right way, the Cowboys would have had a much better chance of putting the game away as they’d have gotten a fresh set of downs at the 14-yard line instead of a first and 25 from the 44.
Overall, it was a poor performance from Allen and his crew and that has led to them not being eligible to officiate in the playoffs.
What’s At Stake for the Steelers in Week 18
Heading into Week 18, the Steelers don’t control their destiny.
Despite owning a 9-7 record, a win over the Ravens doesn’t guarantee them a spot in the playoffs.
They are currently favored in the matchup against the Ravens and their division rival may even help them out by resting starters ahead of the playoffs. However, they’re going to need more help.
With a win, there are 3 scenarios where the Steelers would make the playoffs. They would need the Bills to lose, the Jaguars to lose or tie, or the matchup between the Colts and Texans to end in a tie.
There are also scenarios where they can get in even if they don’t win. If they tie with the Ravens, they need a Jaguars loss and the Texans-Colts game to not end in a tie.
With a loss, they would need the Jaguars to lose, the Broncos to win, and the Texans-Colts game to not end in a tie.
On top of all of the permutations they’ll need to worry about heading into the weekend, the Steelers will also have to hope they aren’t on the receiving end of the latest blown call involving Allen.