"I Learned That From A Trick Your Steelers Used To Pull": Bill Belichick Recalls Valuable Lesson He Received From Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Steelers fans and other fans around the rest of the NFL were probably a little bit confused while watching the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles ran away with the victory during the second half as the Washington Commanders struggled, but something extremely interesting happened on one of Philadelphia's drives. The Eagles had the ball on about the one-yard line, and they were clearly lining up to run their patented "Tush Push" play. A Washington defender jumped the line early on multiple occasions, and the referee announced he could award a score to the Eagles if it were to happen again.

Frankie Luvu attempted to jump the snap on two occasions for the Commanders, which caused the referee to announce that he could award a score to Philadelphia. The Eagles were snapping the ball less than a yard away from the end zone, so it was fair to assume Jalen Hurts would score a touchdown regardless. 

Many fans were shocked to find out this was an actual rule in the NFL, but it is. The rule is technically called the Palpably Unfair Act, and it is defined by the league as an act that interferes with the course of a play, whether it is from a player or a non-player. The referee then has the right to assign whatever the result of the play would have been, which in this case was a touchdown for the Eagles.

Former Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick is commonly known as a savant of the NFL rulebook. He has bent the rules throughout his very successful career, and that is a credit to him knowing the ins and outs of the NFL. He was discussing the fiasco in the game between the Commanders and Eagles recently on Inside The NFL with Chris Long and Ryan Clark, and he was asked whether or not he knew about this rule.

"I learned that from a trick that your Steelers used to pull," Belichick said to Clark. "Back when those PATs were on the 2-yard-line. Score tied, end of the game, PAT to win. And the corner would jump offside and go block it. Be offsides by two yards. And now it's kinda in the head of the kicking team of, 'What's going to happen here?' And then they'd do it again and again. They'd try to beat the count, sorta like this, until it was kicked or they blocked it and they weren't offsides."

This is a smart idea that the Steelers used to do. Back when extra points were kicked from the two-yard line, it was nearly impossible to find a kicker that would ever miss. If the extra point would be important, the Steelers would continue to jump offsides in an attempt to block the kick. A few things could happen. The referees might miss the call, a defender might actually time the snap up correctly and get the block, or the referees award the point to the other team. 

It was surprising to find out that Belichick didn't know about this rule until he ran into it while playing the Steelers.

Steelers Were Involved In Another "Unfair Act"

During the 2013 season, the Steelers were playing a primetime game against the Baltimore Ravens when Ravens' Jacoby Jones was returning a kickoff. He began to sprint down the sideline, and he seemed to have a clear path to the end zone. Mike Tomlin was watching the play on the Jumbotron, and he accidentally got to close to the field, which caused Jones to have to cut inside where he was tackled. There was discussions about the Ravens being awarded a touchdown, but ultimately Tomlin just saw a large fine from the NFL.

What do you think about Belichick learning a lesson from the Steelers? Let us know in the comments below!

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