The Pittsburgh Steelers’ fourth-quarter defeat to the Las Vegas Riders at Heinz Field in the fourth quarter on Sunday saw two players flagged for misconduct.
Mike Tomlin, the lone coach who was pulled out of the game by the Steelers’ defender Troy Turner, was harassing him.
Turner and the Raiders made a defensive encounter after Ben Rothlisberger’s personal Harris’ 25-yard touchdown caught the Steelers within 16-14 with 11 minutes and 15 seconds left.
Turner was seen by TV cameras spitting at a Raiders player, but Tomlin said the act was done in retaliation.
“Someone spat in his face,” Tomlin said. “I understand 15-yard penalties and so on when I get control of the game. But Troy is not young. He’s not overly emotional. It’s a flat liner. The way he responded, what he responded to, I was telling them that case.
“I couldn’t believe he did enough to get me out of the football game.”
Harris said he didn’t see the incident unfold as he was celebrating his first NFL touchdown in the last zone. Rothlisberger, however, witnessed some of it.
Turner initially stopped him from going to the side, and Rothlisberger put his hand around his colleague and spoke to him before Turner went to the locker room.
“I caught the last one,” he said. “I didn’t catch him at the beginning, but he just said he was spitting. He didn’t like it, which I understand and respect as a man, and he went and tried to say something to the boy who was spitting on him. ”
BJ Finney replaced Turner on the right guard for the final 11 offensive moments.
