Cassius Marsh wasn’t happy with Tony Corrente on Monday night for more reasons than one.
Corrente, the lead official for the Bears-Steelers Week 9 contest, flagged Marsh for taunting late in the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The questionable call proved to pay dividends in Pittsburgh’s 29-27 victory over Chicago.
But mere seconds before Corrente brought out the laundry at Marsh’s expense, he appeared to throw a light hip check at the linebacker. Marsh in real time figured it was an accident, but his viewpoint dramatically shifted upon seeing replays.
“On my way to the sideline, I got hip-checked by the ref. It’s pretty clear,” Marsh told reporters, per Pro Football Talk. “If I were to do that to the ref or even touch the ref, we’d get kicked out of the game and possibly suspended and fined. So I just think that that was incredibly inappropriate.”
Corrente was adamant that the contact with Marsh had no bearing on the now-famous taunting infraction.
“No, not at all,” Corrente told a pool reporter. “I didn’t judge that as anything that I dealt with. … That had nothing to do with it. It was the taunting aspect.”
Corrente also stood firm and did not backtrack on his game-changing penalty call.
“First of all, keep in mind that taunting is a point of emphasis this year,” Corrente said. “And with that said, I saw the player, after he made a big play, run toward the bench area of the Pittsburgh Steelers and posture in such a way that I felt he was taunting them.”
Marsh and the Bears dropped to 3-6 on the season with their prime time loss.
