After almost making a comeback from a 29-0 deficit in the third quarter, the Pittsburgh Steelers were defeated by the Minnesota Vikings. With just a minute left on the clock and no timeouts left for Pittsburgh, Chase Claypool made the first-down grab.
Instead of sprinting back to the line of scrimmage, Claypool took a few moments to celebrate his first down by pointing to the end zone. With the clock still ticking, Steelers guard Trai Turner attempted to knock the ball away from Claypool, but the ball struck the ground, taking extra seconds off the clock.
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Chase Claypool cost the Steelers AT LEAST 5 seconds posing & pointing
that would have given the Steelers 1 more play… 1 more shot to tie it up
so dumb, so clueless pic.twitter.com/cy7wSkv4XE
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) December 10, 2021
Finally, the referee pushed the ball back to the goal line, where Ben Roethlisberger spiked it and stopped the clock. Claypool then raged at Turner for taking the ball away from him, but the Steelers may have had at least one more possession if it hadn’t been for his celebration.
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Chase Claypool ready with an excuse
Claypool refused to take the responsibility for the mistake when questioned about it. Instead, he said the referee was not in that area. Claypool had already been benched for a few plays following a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.
“Definitely gotta be better,” said Claypool. “I got tackled near the hash, did my little first-down point and went to hand the ball to the ref. He had just got there. So, even if I got right up and looked for him, he wasn’t there.
"The ball got knocked out of my hands. That's what cost us time.”
Chase Claypool on his late celebration during the Steelers' loss to the Vikingspic.twitter.com/haMI5Jkm3l
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) December 10, 2021
“He ran down the field to come get the ball. The ball got knocked out of my hands. That’s what cost us time. But I definitely do have to be better. I knew the situation,” he added.
Pittsburgh Steelers need to avoid making such mistakes
When it comes to receivers, Claypool’s lack of awareness and discipline is nothing new for the black and yellow team. Both Juju Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown, had their share of problems while playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ben Roethlisberger speaks to the media following our game against the Vikings. pic.twitter.com/YX4TUQIUty
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 10, 2021
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