SI

Mike Tomlin Confirms He Benched Chase Claypool After Silly Penalty

In Friday’s Hot Clicks: the Steelers coach’s message to one of his players, an amazing Big Ten buzzer beater and more.

Dan Gartland

Mike Tomlin Confirms He Benched Chase Claypool After Silly Penalty
Mike Tomlin Confirms He Benched Chase Claypool After Silly Penalty /

Tomlin’s face says a lot

Steelers receiver Chase Claypool put up solid stats in Thursday’s loss to the Vikings (eight catches for 93 yards), but coach Mike Tomlin still sounded pretty annoyed with him after the game—and for good reason.

On Pittsburgh’s first series of the game, Claypool caught a six-yard pass and was tackled by Bashaud Breeland. As they made their way back to their respective huddles, Claypool stuck his finger in Breeland’s facemask and was flagged for unnecessary roughness.

That move might not be exceptionally rough, but it was definitely unnecessary. There’s absolutely no reason for Claypool to be sticking his finger in a guy’s face. That’s always going to be a penalty, especially when you’re standing right in front of an official.

Claypool is Ben Roethlisberger’s No. 2 target, and the Steelers really needed to win this game to stay alive in the playoff hunt, but Tomlin decided he needed to send a message to Claypool and sat him on the bench for a bit. It wasn’t a long benching (Claypool was back on the field for the next series), but Tomlin confirmed after the game that he was disciplining Claypool.

Asked whether he thought Claypool got the message, Tomlin looked exasperated as he said, “We’ll see.”

Claypool told reporters after the game that he agreed with Tomlin’s call.

“I think that was the right move because I can’t make a penalty like that; it hurts the team,” he said. “Thanks [Diontae Johnson] for getting us out of that long situation.”

But while Claypool may recognize that the penalty was foolish, it’s safe to say, based on what Claypool did in the closing moments of the game, that any larger message about maturity Tomlin may have been trying to deliver wasn’t received.

After falling behind 29–0, the Steelers mounted a furious comeback and had a chance to tie the game with one last drive, behind 36–28. Pittsburgh started with terrible field position at its own 4-yard line but Claypool picked up a big chunk of yardage with a ridiculous 38-yard grab. He caught two more passes as the Steelers progressed into Minnesota territory. Then, on a fourth-and-1, Claypool picked up nine yards to keep hope alive. But Pittsburgh had used all its timeouts to get the ball back and instead of hustling back to the line so the Steelers could stop the ball with a spike, Claypool celebrated as the clock continued to run. Twelve seconds elapsed between when Claypool was tackled and when the ball was spotted.

Claypool doesn’t think the celebration ended up taking too much time off the clock.

“I got tackled near the hash, did my little first down point and went to hand the ball to the ref,” he said. “He just got there, so even if I got right up and looked for him, he wasn’t there.”

Claypool said the real issue was that the ball got knocked out of his hands. Teammate Trai Turner came over to try to grab the ball and at the same time, Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks swatted it out of Claypool’s hand.

​​“[The ref] ran down the field to come get the ball. The ball got knocked out of my hands. That’s what costed us time,” Claypool said. “But I definitely do have to be better. I knew the situation. I knew I was near the hash; I knew the ball gets placed on the hash. I got to be better. The ball shouldn't be knocked out of my hands.”

Claypool may be right that, because he was tackled right on the hash, the celebration itself shouldn’t have cost the Steelers much time, but an old-school coach like Tomlin probably wouldn’t be happy with that kind of a move, regardless. 

The best of SI

College football’s leaders can’t decide on how (or if) to expand the playoff. ... Whether it’s trading Damian Lillard or putting better pieces around him, the Blazers need a shakeup. ... Ranking the 16 teams left in the Champions League.  

Who wants free stuff? 

Content is unavailable

It’s been a little while since I’ve done a giveaway, but I have another one today. The new season of Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone was released Tuesday. It includes new maps and weapons for the Vanguard multiplayer and free-to-play Warzone battle royale. I’ve got three Vanguard download codes to give away to Xbox players. (Sorry, Playstation owners and PC gamers.)

Here’s how to win:

  • Go back to Thursday’s Hot Clicks.
  • Find the name of the soccer player who knocked down a fan who ran on the field.
  • Send me an email (dan.gartland@si.com) with the subject line Vanguard giveaway and the correct answer in the body.
  • The 10th, 20th and 30th persons to email me following those instructions will win.

Around the sports world

LeBron James became the fifth player in NBA history to record 100 triple doubles. ... Chip Kelly could be headed back to Oregon. ... Ron Rivera called Mike McCarthy guaranteeing a win over Washington a “big mistake.”

Tim Tebow pays tribute to the man to whom he threw his most famous pass

What a way to knock off the No. 1 team in the country

UConn’s loss to Georgia Tech (without Paige Bueckers, granted) snapped a streak of 240 wins against unranked opponents

Content is unavailable

Chiefs defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, who has been a healthy scratch for several weeks, had a great response to getting drug tested

This is pretty harsh from CC. Before developing vertigo symptoms, Frazier was an above-league-average hitter.

$30 million for a YouTube show is incredible

The accuracy is incredible

Is he better than Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez or Kellen Winslow Sr.? It’s an interesting argument.

The Eagles DB’s reaction is fantastic

Not sports

A German court ruled that a man who slipped and broke his back while walking from his bed to his desk was commuting to work. ... A Tennessee judge testified that he wasn’t trying to hide $100,000 in cash from creditors when he buried it in the ground: “I’m from Alabama.” ... Sweden’s tourism board wants people to visit the places their Ikea items are named after.

A good song

Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

Published
Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

Home/Extra Mustard