Should Antonio Brown's game-winning TD vs. Bengals been called back? The NFL weighs in

It wouldn't be Steelers-Bengals if the game didn't come down to the last play and if said last play didn't involve some controversy. On Sunday afternoon, Cincinnati took a 21-20 lead with with 1:18 to go. Pittsburgh's offense needed six plays to move to the Bengals 31-yard line, and with 10 seconds to go, Cincy sent the house on a blitz. Ben Roethlisberger responded with a quick strike to Antonio Brown for the winning touchdown.

Here's what that looked like from the stands:

You might be struck by how wide open Brown was on the game's most important play. There are at least two explanations. One: The Bengals, inexplicably, chose to go without a deep safety because they were in an all-out blitz. Two: The Steelers' Justin Hunter (No. 11) got away with a pick on cornerback Tony McRae (No. 29) that left Brown virtually uncovered as he ran through the middle of the defense.

As for the first point, former NFL wide receiver Andrew Hawkins, who played for the Bengals from 2011-2013, took to Twitter to explain exactly what happened:

Put another way: The Bengals were in a terrible coverage. The Steelers knew it, made an adjustment at the line of scrimmage, and hit a 31-yarder to their best player for one of the easiest touchdowns of his career.

But what about the second point? Should Hunter have been flagged for a pick? NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron also took to Twitter to set the record straight:

"Immediately after the ball is snapped [McRae]'s going to make contact ... however, the contact is initiated by the defender and therefore the receiver is not responsible for this contact. And the contact continues just as the ball is caught by [Brown], there's still contact ... therefore this is not [offensive pass interference].

That's the league's official stance though you could argue that it's not clear McRae initiated the contact. Even still, that doesn't explain why the Bengals thought it made sense to leave the middle of the field wide open for Brown to run through.

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