Steelers raise another protest of Patriots' maneuver

Tom Pelissero | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption NFL Inside Slant: Brady shines in season opener USA TODAY Sports' Tom Pelissero breaks down the NFL's season opener.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Trouble with headsets wasn’t all that had the Pittsburgh Steelers upset during Thursday night’s loss to the New England Patriots.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger vigorously protested after left tackle Kelvin Beachum was called for a false start on third-and-goal from the Patriots’ 1-yard line – an infraction triggered by the New England line sliding during Roethlisberger’s snap count.

“I thought that there was a rule against that,” Roethlisberger told reporters. “Maybe there’s not. Maybe it’s just an unwritten rule. … We saw it on film, that the Patriots do that. They shift and slide and do stuff on the goal line, knowing that it’s an itchy trigger finger-type down there.”

Left guard Ramon Foster, who also moved on the play, confirmed the Steelers had seen it on film and players were told it’s legal, provided the Patriots don’t cross the line of scrimmage.

“They time it up in the cadence,” Foster told USA TODAY Sports, smiling and shaking his head. “Yeah, that’s one of the things they do. Welcome to Foxborough.”

There are rules against “attempting to disconcert Team A at snap by words or signals” and “defensive abrupt non-football movements,” but a routine line slide wouldn’t seem to expressly violate either. An NFL spokesman forwarded the applicable rules without comment.

In 2012, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct under the rule against disconcerting signals for shifting their entire field-goal block unit in an attempt to make the New Orleans Saints false start.

In 2010, Indianapolis Colts defensive lineman Antonio Johnson was flagged for calling out signals as the Tennessee Titans snapped on an extra point. Three weeks before that game, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady screamed at officials after a kneeldown play, saying a Colts player was saying “hut, hut” in the middle of his snap count.

“In my years of playing, a defensive guy can’t bark stuff or move in the middle of a cadence,” Roethlisberger said. “I agree that the ref said, ‘Well, he didn’t go in the neutral zone.’ … I was arguing the fact that he shifted in the middle of a cadence.”

Roethlisberger’s beef is reminiscent of the flap over the eligible/ineligible scheme the Patriots used in last year’s playoff win against the Baltimore Ravens – a legal maneuver the NFL snuffed out after the season by tweaking the rules about where an ineligible player can line up.

Shifting in goal-line defense can be particularly disruptive because offensive linemen are ready to fire off the ball on the snap. Foster said the Patriots aren’t the only team he’s seen do it. His only question was whether the three players or so who shifted stayed out of the neutral zone.

“I think it’s more heightened because it’s (the Patriots) and it looks like – whatever the case may be,” Foster said. “They’re a team that likes to take advantage of those type of situations, and we can’t give that to them.”

The mistake was one of many that cost the Steelers, who lost a yard on third-and-goal from the 5 and settled for a field goal that cut the Patriots’ lead to 21-14 with 11:39 to go.

“Kudos for them for thinking of that and making it happen in that situation,” Foster said. “I can’t be mad. That’s on us. We can’t false start.”

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.