Egregious illegal hit on Steelers' George Pickens doesn't draw fine for Falcons defender

Despite what was very clearly an illegal hit on Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens during the Week 1 game against the Atlanta Falcons , veteran edge rusher Matthew Judon will not be fined.

The hit came on a pass play from quarterback Justin Fields to running back Jaylen Warren. Right as Warren was tackled, Judon laid a hit into the back of Pickens that clearly should have been flagged but was not.

Pickens got up after getting leveled by Judon and rightly pleaded with the officials to throw the flag, but none came. Making the non-call even worse was the fact that the officials botched at least two flags thrown on the Steelers.

Pickens was the victim for one of those bad calls when he was flagged for a very weak offensive pass interference . The other awful flag came when star edge rusher T.J. Watt was penalized for an offside when he actually perfectly timed the snap.

The flag wiped out a strip sack that the Steelers recovered. After the game, Watt revealed that the official admitted he got the call wrong upon getting a second look.

"Yeah, especially when the official says he messed it up," Watt told NFL Network's Mike Garafolo . "After the first half, he went in and saw it, so, glad to get the get-back."

It was just a pathetic showing by the officials overall, and the Steelers were easily the biggest victims. Despite that, Pittsburgh still managed to come away with an 18-10 victory over the Falcons.