The Pittsburgh Steelers had a Week 9 bye to get healthy and ready for a huge showdown against the surprisingly-successful Washington Commanders. Mike Tomlin has his team sitting in a perfect position with a record of 6-2 as Week 10 has arrived. While it isn’t necessarily a must-win, especially because it is an NFC opponent, the organization will need any and all wins possible with a brutal backend to the 2024 schedule. Some may look at this contest as a potential letdown game, but improving to 7-2 would set the franchise up perfectly entering a Week 11 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.

Pittsburgh will look to take advantage of every possible leg up that it might have against a talented Commanders team. The opposite could potentially occur in one area as Tomlin and his coaching staff received news that the officiating crew for the game will be led by Brad Rogers. Dale Lolley of the Steelers’ official website detailed that Rogers and his team are frequent callers of two penalty categories that could seriously affect both Joey Porter Jr. and Broderick Jones.

Brad Rogers’ crew will work the Steelers-Commanders game this weekend. They average 13.57 penalties per game, which is just above league average. False starts (17), Offensive holding (15) and DPI (11) are their most frequent calls.

— Dale Lolley (@dlolley_pgh)November 6, 2024

Starting with Porter, the young standout defender has been known as a handsy defender dating back to his college days with the Penn State Nittany Lions. He has continued this style of play in the NFL and according to an NFL Penalties website, has been called once in 2024 for pass interference. While he hasn’t been hit with too many flags, he will have a tough task against Terry McLaurin and the officiating crew’s tendencies could come in play in relation to Porter’s aggressive style of football.

Jones may be even more of an issue for the Steelers in the game. He has not had a sophomore season to remember and many members of the fan base have been questioning if he is turning into a bust of a draft pick. He has yet to permanently move to his natural position on the left side, and his inconsistencies on the right have not been a good sight to see. This could prove to be an issue in Week 10.

His worst moment of the year was being called for three penalties on one drive in a game against the Denver Broncos. He was benched and the performance is the main reason why he leads the Steelers with five penalties called (and accepted) against him. Three of those were for holding, which Lolley notes is one of the more commonly called infractions when Rogers’ crew is officiating a game.

The matchup against the Commanders is certain to provide plenty of twists and turns. Getting called for penalties will hurt whichever team is committing them. More bad news comes for Pittsburgh when looking at a Week 1 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. That is the only game in 2024 in which Rogers had a Steelers game and Tomlin’s group was called for nine penalties that went for a total of 60 yards. Jones was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct in that contest.

Steelers Can’t Make Excuses When It Comes To Officiating

Washington has not played in a game refereed by Rogers in 2024, but Pittsburgh has a little bit of experience from the victory in Atlanta. Porter has gotten away with most of his handsy play, but Jones leads the team in penalties and Rogers’ crew enjoys the holding call. It will be important for both Porter and Jones to stay disciplined because at any given time a crucial call could end up being the difference between a win and a loss.

Are you worried about the officiating crew headed into a massive Week 10 contest against the Commanders?