(Screenshot of Tony Corrente bumping into Cassius Marsh)
Who would have thought that Cassius Marsh would be a big talking point from last night's Steelers-Bears game? Marsh, of course, was with the Steelers at the end of last year and got cut in late August.
Marsh signed with the Bears on Nov. 3 and was promoted from the practice squad to the Bears 53-man roster for last night's game. With the Steelers holding onto a 23-20 lead late in the fourth quarter, Marsh sacked Roethlisberger for a 7-yard loss on third-and-8, which knocked the Steelers out of field goal range.
This is when things just got weird, though. Marsh did a spinning roundhouse kick celebration after his sack and preceded to walk toward the Steelers bench to stare them down. Marsh was called for taunting and the Steelers got an automatic first down. Boswell ended up making a 52-yard field goal on the drive to enhance the Steelers' lead to 26-20 with 2:52 remaining.
While I don't think the taunting penalty on Marsh won the game for the Steelers, it was still a big call. And in all honesty, I thought it was a weak call. I'm not a big fan of the new taunting rule, unless it's obvious. That wasn't the case here. Marsh just stared down the Steelers bench and didn't say anything or make any gestures. He was also not even close to the Steelers sidelines.
However, at the same time, for a player of Marsh's status, he shouldn't put himself in that type of situation.
To make matters even more bizarre, head referee Tony Corrente awkwardly bumped into Marsh and then threw the flag. It appeared that Corrente was reaching for his flag beforehand, but nevertheless, it was still not a good look.
Marsh said in his postgame press conference that the "hip check" by Corrente was "pretty clear."
“If I were to do that to the ref or even touch the ref, we’d get kicked out of the game and possibly suspended and fined,” Marsh said. “So I just think that that was incredibly inappropriate.”
Steelers-Bears games of late have not been forgettable. You have the Alejandro Villenauva National Anthem game in 2017 and the iconic play of Jerome Bettis running over Brian Urlacher for a touchdown in 2005. And now you have the Cassius Marsh "hip-check"game.