Referee Alex Moore defends controversial unnecessary roughness call in Steelers-Ravens

Of the three controversial decisions in the Steelers-Ravens game, the first allowed Pittsburgh to swap a field goal for a touchdown.

It happened when the officials called unnecessary roughness on Ravens defensive tackle Travis Jones, for hitting Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz. The Steelers took the three points off the board, and scored six on the very next snap.

After the game, referee Alex Moore explained the decision to pool reporter Jeff Zrebiec.

"The snapper by rule is a defenseless player, so the contact would be unnecessary," Moore said. "Basically, he ran him over."

So the snapper can't be contacted at all?

"You cannot make any forcible contact to that player," Moore said. "The calling official felt like the contact rose to the level of being unnecessary against a defenseless player."

The rule isn't quite that general, however. The long snapper is indeed a defenseless player. But defenseless players aren't immune from contact.

From Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9(b): "Prohibited contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture is listed below. However, these provisions do not prohibit incidental contact by the mask or helmet in the course of a conventional tackle or block on an opponent: (1) forcibly hitting the defenseless player’s head or neck area with the helmet, facemask, forearm, or shoulder, even if the initial contact is lower than the player’s neck, and regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the defenseless player by encircling or grasping him; (2) lowering the head and making forcible contact with any part of the helmet against any part of the defenseless player’s body; or (3) illegally launching into a defenseless opponent. It is an illegal launch if a player (i) leaves one or both feet prior to contact to spring forward and upward into his opponent, and (ii) uses any part of his helmet to initiate forcible contact against any part of his opponent’s body."

In English, the rule doesn't prohibit, as to the long snapper, "running him over." It prohibits: (1) forcible blows to the head or neck area of the long snapper; (2) lowering the head and making forcible contact with any part of the long snapper's body; and (3) launching illegally into the long snapper.

Watch the play. There was no forcible contact with Kuntz's head or neck area. He was not struck with a helmet. There was no launch.

Instead, it appears that the Ravens specifically designed an attack that would entail shoulder-to-shoulder contact on Kuntz's right, and on his left. The end result? They "ran him over." But there was no prohibited contact with Kuntz.

Hopefully, they'll give Walt Anderson enough time during next Sunday's four-hour NFL Network pregame show to address this one, too. The Ravens have every right to be upset. About this play. About the Isaiah Likely non-catch. And about the Aaron Rodgers "catch."

And the consequences were collectively massive. Those three calls contributed directly to the outcome of the game. Which may contribute directly to the outcome of the season, for both the Steelers and the Ravens.