CLEVELAND -- On Sunday, the Cleveland Browns will face their traditional rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But when it comes to the 2018 season, perhaps the team's biggest foe hasn't been a team, but rather the officials.
One day after it was revealed line judge Hugo Cruz lost his job following a missed false start in Cleveland's Week 6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the league has admitted another blown call that went against the Browns. On Friday, the NFL officials released their weekly review, which included what should have been called a helmet-to-helmet hit on defensive back Jordan Whitehead against quarterback Baker Mayfield in Cleveland's 26-23 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Perhaps the most baffling part about the missed call was that a flag was initially thrown by an official following the play, before ultimately being picked up -- and incorrectly -- waved off.
“The quarterback was still a runner and therefore is allowed to be hit in the head. He had not yet begun to slide,” referee Shawn Hochuli announced.
As we now know, Hochuli's assessment was incorrect -- not that the league's admittance of the mistake will make much of a difference to Mayfield.
“After the fact, it doesn’t really matter,” the rookie signal-caller said earlier this week. “That’s just one of those things that in the moment, you’ve got to be able to call that.”
According to multiple reports, Whitehead is expected to be fined for the hit.
