A weekly series I’ll do that captures the forgotten and hidden plays that helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win—or lose. Not the touchdowns, turnovers, or plays that will make the Monday morning highlights—the little ones that, looking back, played a key role in the outcome. I’ll start with a hidden moment that helped the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Steelers.
Zach Frazier’s Trip Is A Trip
For the first time in this series, which started this year, I am sort of stumped. There are plenty of obvious plays that defined this game, but the point of this article is to find the sneaky one you forgot about. That list is slim, given how poorly Pittsburgh played and how many major mistakes they made, sitting on every highlight reel of this game.
Penalties are the talk of the game. They didn’t define Pittsburgh’s loss, nor should they be used as a crutch of excuse, but there were weighty calls that went against the Steelers. Most haven’t been forgotten. Philadelphia not flagged for their part of a post-play skirmish, the NFL flat-out wrong that their side didn’t throw punches. Montravius Adams getting called for contacting the long snapper. A Jalen Carter head slap on Connor Heyward counting after Corliss Waitman’s punt, not before it, allowing the Eagles to keep possession of the ball.
But I’ll turn to a forgotten penalty if such a thing exists. Zach Frazier’s “trip” that set Pittsburgh way back on what would wind up being their final drive of the game.
Following a Jalen Hurts touchdown, the Eagles are up 27-13. If Pittsburgh has a prayer to get back into things, they gotta score. And they need to give their defense some rest. The Steelers start the ensuing drive at their 30 and find traction—at least a little bit. A 10-yard completion to WR Calvin Austin III, followed by a 6-yard pass to him. RB Cordarrelle Patterson gained 5-yards on the next play.
It set up Pittsburgh in business, 1st and 10 at the Eagles’ 49-yard line. The Steelers ran one of their seven toss plays in this game, pitching to Patterson to the boundary. The box score reflects it as a 4-yard gain, but this is clearly more than that, a 6-yard pickup. Successful first-down play; let’s keep things rolling.
Until a flag came in. Rookie Zach Frazier was called for tripping, a 15-yard penalty that took the ball from the Eagles’ 43 to the Steelers’ 40 for a 1st and 21. Frazier was perplexed, and Mike Tomlin was mad. So what happened?
Fox showed the replay a few moments later. Frazier reached the second level and cut the linebacker, which is common in this scheme. As he rolled through him, his leg whipped up and tripped LB Nakobe Dean, which triggered the flag.
That is a tough call to make. It seems obvious Frazier isn’t sticking out his leg to trip him like say, Chris Boswell did last week (that was unsuccessful and not flagged). Frazier’s momentum from rolling and finishing his cut block brought his legs up and just happened to trip Dean.
The optics don’t look great, but Frazier isn’t intentionally trying to trip here. He cut off the linebacker and executed his block, so he has no reason to risk a trip.
The flag took Pittsburgh from 2nd and 4 to 1st and 21. From there, it was another hole they couldn’t dig out of. Wilson’s first down pass fell incomplete, his second down pass turned into a loss to Patterson, and Mike Williams’ lone catch of the day fell well short of the sticks. It set up a 4th and 7 Tomlin decided to punt, a controversial decision that featured the equally questionable assessment of Carter’s penalty after the fact. From there, the Eagles went on a 21-play stroll of Lincoln Financial Field to end the game, Pittsburgh never touching the ball again.
I’m less interested in ruminating over the refs’ impact on this game than others. I don’t blame the officials for the loss. Bad calls? You betcha. But Pittsburgh’s got a lot more fingers to point at themselves than the zebras. Still, this penalty and moment most closely capture the spirit of the series, a game-changing play that will be missed in a review of the game.
