Chase Claypool: Steelers WR Getting Dragged On Twitter For Late-Drive Celebration
By: John P. Wise/KDKA
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Trailing by one score Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers were driving late, trying to tie a game they once trailed, 29-0.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger connected with wideout Chase Claypool on a 4th-down conversion in Minnesota territory with only 42 seconds left.
Most players would -- and did -- hustle back to the line of scrimmage to get ready for the next snap.
But Claypool, already benched once earlier in the game by coach Mike Tomlin, figured that would be the right time to celebrate the 4th-down conversion, as the clock was running.
Later in the drive -- on the game's final play, actually -- Roethlisberger fired a laser to rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth in the end zone. Sandwiched between three Vikings, Freiermuth got hit hard and couldn't hang on, and the Steelers dropped a close one to fall to 6-6-1 in a very competitive AFC.
After the game, and Friday morning, and so far Friday afternoon, Claypool is getting lit up on social media way worse than Freiermuth got lit up on that end-zone incompletion.
Here's a sampling:
(Story continues below tweet)
To his credit, Claypool acknowledged his misstep, according to a story on Yahoo.com:
"Definitely gotta be better," Claypool told Yahoo. "I got tackled near the hash, did my little first-down point and went to hand the ball to the ref. He had just got there. So, even if I got right up and looked for him, he wasn't there. He ran down the field to come get the ball. The ball got knocked out of my hands. That's what cost us time. But I definitely do have to be better. I knew the situation. "
