Ben Roethlisberger Claims Referees Called Timeout Steelers Didn't Want

The mayhem in the final moments of the New England Patriots’ win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday has paved the way for an equally chaotic series of explanations from Pittsburgh as to what was going on.

The conversation Tuesday circulated around the moments immediately after JuJu Smith-Schuster’s 69-yard reception.

As the Steelers ran down the field, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was jumping around, giving a signal that sure looked like he was requesting a timeout, so referee Tony Corrente elected to give him one.

Here’s a look at the timeout in question:

Ben Roethlisberger says he wasn't trying to call a timeout here but the official had the audacity to call one anyways pic.twitter.com/1m50gx663f

— Daniel Connolly (@DanielVConnolly) December 19, 2017

Now, the Steelers are backtracking, saying that it actually was a signal to the sideline between Roethlisberger and head coach Mike Tomlin on whether or not they should call a timeout.

Interesting: Ben Roethlisberger said the Steelers were still deciding whether to call time-out after that huge JuJu Smith-Schuster gain at the end of the Pats game, but ref Tony Corrente assumed he was – and whistled it.

— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) December 19, 2017

Mike Tomlin says no, he did not want that time-out after the long JuJu Smith-Schuster completion. Says Ben Roethlisberger was signaling to HIM and Tony Corrente called it – and that he then questioned the ref as to why he called a timeout that did not originate from the bench.

— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) December 19, 2017

Hmm.

That timeout was the final one for the Steelers, and had it not been called, they would have been able to call a timeout and gotten on the same page three plays later in lieu of the now-infamous fake-spike that resulted in an interception.