Steelers-Eagles referee Alan Eck explains controversial decision not to penalize Eagles during fight between teams

Referee Alan Eck explained why no Philadelphia Eagles players were penalized during the fight between them and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. In the pool report, Eck said the officials didn’t see any punches thrown by any Eagles players.

“No punches were observed on the field, Eck said, per Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Since we had flags down, it gave New York an opportunity to review the play as well. There was no evidence of punches observed by the Philadelphia Eagles.”

Referee Alan Eck: “No punches were observed on the field (by the Eagles). There was no video evidence of punches observed by the Philadelphia Eagles.” https://t.co/mvm6MV1FZ0

— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) December 16, 2024

Eck was also asked why two Steelers players were penalized. “Because two Steelers were observed, number 80 [TE Darnell Washington] and number 19 [WR Calvin Austin], committing unsportsmanlike conduct after the player was over,” he explained. “That’s what it was. Two players after the fact, unsportsmanlike conduct.”

In the first quarter, Washington was seen driving Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay out of the endzone and into the stands. Austin then got involved and was seen shoving Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell. Multiple videos show Slay and Mitchell punching Washington and Austin, but the two Eagles players were not penalized.

More on the Eagles and Steelers showdown

The Eagles went on to win the contest 27-13 and improve their record to 12-2 on the year. They are now tied with the Detroit Lions for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but the Lions have the tiebreaker since they have a better conference record.

The Steelers drop to 10-4 on the year but have clinched a playoff spot and still have a one-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North lead.

“First, I want to compliment the Eagles on a hard-fought victory,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters after the game, per Steelers.com. “But as I just told the team in there tonight, we didn’t coach as well as we’d like, and we didn’t play as well as we’d like. It’s such a fine line at this level.

“If you just look at this game, we had a penalty going in that forced us to settle for a field goal. We turned the ball over on the short field and got no points. There were several possessions downs on defense where we had opportunities to tackle ball carriers in the flat and we missed those tackles and that produced extended drives and those points.”