Steelers goaltender Trai Turner’s fourth quarter ejection displeases Mike Tomlin

Two players were reported for unsportsmanlike conduct in the fourth quarter Sunday of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 26-17 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders at Heinz Field.

Steelers goaltender Trai Turner was the only one kicked out of the game, upset coach Mike Tomlin.

Turner and Raiders defensive tackle Solomon Thomas were each penalized after Ben Roethlisberger’s Najee Harris 25-yard touchdown put the Steelers back in 16-14 with 11 minutes and 15 seconds left.

Turner was shown by TV cameras spitting at a Raiders player, but Tomlin said the act was committed in retaliation.

“Someone spat in his face,” Tomlin said. “I understand the penalties of 15 yards and so on, to take control of the game. But Trai is not a young man. He’s not overly emotional. It’s a flat-liner. In order for him to answer as he answered, what happened, I explained this case to them.

“I didn’t think he did enough to get kicked out of the football game.”

Harris said he didn’t see the incident unfold because he was in the end zone celebrating his first NFL touchdown. Roethlisberger, however, witnessed it.

Turner was reluctant to leave the sideline at first, and Roethlisberger put his arm around his teammate and spoke to him before Turner headed for the locker room.

“I caught the last (part),” he said. “I didn’t get the whole thing right at the start, but just talking to him he said he got spit on him. He didn’t like it, which I understand and respect as a man, and he went and tried to say something to the guy who spat on him.

BJ Finney replaced Turner at right guard for the last 11 offensive snaps.