Pittsburgh Steelers star Diontae Johnson slams referees, blames them for Week 8 loss
The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered their third loss of the season on Sunday afternoon, losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars by two scores in Week 8.
While Johnson did initially fall back in line with Mike Tomlin’s message, that the Steelers can only focus on what they can control, he soon suggested Sunday’s referees wanted the Jaguars to win.
eam only has three days to prepare for its next game, wide receiver Diontae Johnson is focused on the referees.
After Sunday’s game, Pittsburgh’s third loss by double-digits, Johnson spoke to reporters about the effort. On an afternoon when the Steelers’ offense went 3-for-12 on third down and 0-for-1 in the red zone, Pittsburgh’s star seems to believe another factor determined the outcome.
Johnson was blunt with reporters in the locker room, saying that the referees in the Steelers vs Jaguars matchup cost Pittsburgh the game.
While Johnson did initially fall back in line with Mike Tomlin’s message, that the Steelers can only focus on what they can control, he soon suggested Sunday’s referees wanted the Jaguars to win.
Johnson’s frustration is understandable and not just because of the loss. While he’s one of the best players on the Steelers’ roster, Johnson hasn’t scored a touchdown since 2021.
However, there were plays on Sunday that proved far costlier for Pittsburgh than any call by NFL referees. Kenny Pickett was not only late on a throw in the end zone, his release and poor ball placement cost Johnson a touchdown.
With Pickett likely out with a rib injury and backup Mitchell Trubisky likely to start on Thursday Night Football, Johnson might have even more reasons to be frustrated in a few days.
INGLEWOOD – From the coulda, woulda, shoulda files: Pittsburgh Steelers 24, Rams 17.
It would’ve been hard to imagine back in July, before the Rams broke camp, that they could weather a loss this season that would be quite so disappointing.
They were coming off a most-disheartening 5-12 Super Bowl defense and embarking on a preseason with 39 rookies on the roster. The only expectations were low expectations. Specifically, oddsmakers’ prognostication: over/under 6.5 wins.
And yet Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh stung. The Rams’ complementary collapse will eat at them and everyone associated with them until they can get back on the field and make it right, whether that’s next weekend in Dallas or the following week at Green Bay or on Nov. 19, when they’re back at SoFi Stadium against the Seattle Seahawks. Or whenever.
Because it turns out the Rams are better than what oddsmakers imagined they’d be, and moreover, they should be better than 3-4.
They’ll tell you that, too. This is a team led by a head coach that isn’t afraid to give itself lashings: “We didn’t help ourselves,” McVay volunteered before anyone could even ask a questions about what he called a “disappointing deal” at his postgame news conference.
“Anytime we don’t get it done, it’s a collective effort,” he continued. “There’s a lot of things that we didn’t do to be able to finish this game. Execution on (special) teams. Execution offensively. Defensively …”
McVay’s is a team that goes out of its way show it cares by being neither dismissive nor defensive. But even all their accountability can go only so far as to blunt the public annoyance with a game that was so badly botched, blown by a pileup of mistakes. A true and total team effort.
It wasn’t, despite what Ice Cube rapped to an appreciative stadium at halftime, a good day in L.A. At least not if you were one of the easily outnumbered Rams fans in the stands Sunday.
Oh, how did Steelers fans love this one? Let me count the ways. Or some of them. I’ve got only so much space.
Sixth-year kicker Brett Maher missed two field goals and an extra point, momentum-killing misses even if those seven points wouldn’t have won the game on their own.
Cornerback Derion Kendrick was late coming off the field, so the Rams were penalized five yards for too many men two plays before Najee Harris rushed for the Steelers’ final score – a 3-yard touchdown – in the lopsided fourth quarter.
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