I personally don’t believe Joey Porter being on the field during the Steelers/Bengals game was a big deal. I know it was against the rules, and my personal opinion doesn’t matter, but this is something that happens all the time.

To be fair I will quote the rule here to start:

Either or both team attendants and their helpers may enter the field to attend their team during a team timeout by either team. No other non-player may come on the field without the Referee’s permission, unless he is an incoming substitute (5-2-2).

During any team timeout, all playing rules continue in force. Representatives of either team are prohibited from entering the field unless they are incoming substitutes, or team attendants or trainers entering to provide for the welfare of a player, and any game-type activities are prohibited on the Field of Play.

Obviously what Porter did was against the rules, the only problem is, it happens so often this rule is often forgotten. I’m sure after this game there will be a new emphasis on the rule and how it is enforced but there’s a particular reason why I believe it was a good thing it was the Bengal’s and not Porter who were penalized.

I have watched an innumerable amount of games where half of the sideline comes onto the field for an injury to specific players. The more prolific a player, the more people who seem to come on the field, from coaches, to ball boys, to gatorade carriers, and towel guys. You name it, if a key player is hurt, people are on the field.

Obviously you’re going to have the Bengals haters blaming them for unruly play and Steelers haters blaming them for Porter breaking an “oh so important” rule. How many times though have the people critiquing and condemning Porter seen a coach on the team they root for go on the field when they weren’t supposed to? I do get this is a rule. A rule is a rule is a rule, but it is often one that gets ignored. If every staff member is always rotating in and out during injuries I have never seen this rule enforced before.

According to the rule and almost every other article written on this, even head coaches are not allowed onto the field. If that’s the case why is it I, and most of you, have definitely seen a head coach on the field during an injury? It’s quite simple, this rule is really not something that typically means a thing. It wouldn’t shock me if it is so obscure even during the scuffle it probably did not cross the refs minds. Now it will be paid attention to more often and teams can be sure they need to keep sideline staff aware of staying off the field, but this situation was just like any other.

Porter was supposedly talking trash as well and then the uniformed player’s reacted to him. That is all hearsay and unfortunately we can’t know what was actually said. What I do know is I have seen numerous coaches from every team always on the field for injuries to high level players. In this situation it was a serious injury to a great player so I think Porter most likely went out to check on him.

This would be no different to me than if a wide receivers coach went to check on J.J. Watt if he were injured in a game. Would anyone else bat an eye in that situation? When I form an opinion on something I want to make it a generalized opinion focusing on everyone and every team. It wouldn’t shock me in the least if J.J. Watt or Manning or Brady had a wide variety of staff around them in case of an injury. Odds are if anything like that happened prior to yesterday in the playoffs, in a friendlier game as well, no one would have much, if any, concern for the rule I provided above at all.

What happened yesterday with coaches on the field happens all of the time. We’ve all seen it, it’s common. Unfortunately in this case it was a chippy game, with outspoken players and coaches, and it created a perfect storm of a situation that impacted the results of a playoff game. In the future this is something that needs to be enforced. Regardless of the player, regardless of the personnel, only certain individuals should be allowed on the field. With such a relaxed history with this particular rule it was hard to punish in this one situation. I’m sure many changes will be coming as a result of this game and that’s for the better. For the record none of this has anything to do with any other penalty during the game including, but not limited to, the completely ridiculous actions of Hall of Famer Mike Munchak grabbing Nelson’s hair on the sideline.