Tom E. Curran • E-mail

BALTIMORE - Last week Tony Romo handed the Steelers a win. This week, referee Walt Coleman did the honors.

And it’s a shame too because a beautiful, rockfight of a game didn’t deserve to end with an NFL official being any part of the story. But Coleman made himself so.

With first place on the line and Pittsburgh trailing the Ravens 9-6 with 50 seconds remaining, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger took a third-and-goal snap from the Ravens' 4.

Buying time moving from left to right, Roethlisberger finally saw wideout Santonio Holmes working his way from the back of the end zone forward. Roethlisberger delivered. Holmes caught the ball, feet in the end zone, arms outstretched back onto the field of play as Ravens safety Ed Reed hauled him down.

The ruling on the field was that the Steelers faced fourth-and-goal from about the six-inch line. Great drama. A huge decision. Kick the field goal and head to overtime? Or go for the win on fourth down?

But Coleman made the decision for Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. After ducking under the hood and reviewing the replay, Coleman granted the Steelers the touchdown. And the lead. And the AFC North. And, if Pittsburgh beats the Titans in Tennessee, home-field advantage in the AFC.

That's quite a bounty from one call.

But Coleman’s explanation of why it was a touchdown? Not good. In Coleman’s on-field explanation, he said that Holmes caught the ball with both feet in the end zone and, hence it was a touchdown.

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As any pedestrian NFL fan knows, the ball has to get into the end zone. You can roll the length of the goal line with your whole body in the end zone, but if no part of the ball crosses the beginning of that magic white line, it’s not a touchdown.

But Coleman never said the ball got in. And replay did not show conclusively that Holmes had possession of the ball over the goal line. “Indisputable visual evidence.” That’s what’s required to overturn a call. Not only was that not present, Coleman — in his explanation — didn’t even refer to the most important part of the rule: where the football was in relation to the goal line.

So the 71,502 fans watching at M&T Bank Stadium, the millions of fans watching at home, the two teams hammering each other senseless … none of them got a suitable explanation for why the Steelers now led 13-9.

Meanwhile, the Ravens' ensuing desperation possession ended with rookie quarterback Joe Flacco getting picked off in the Steelers end zone with 17 seconds left.

In his postgame pool statement, Coleman said, “(Holmes) had two feet down and completed the catch with control of the ball breaking the plane of the goal line. The ball was breaking the plane. He had two feet down. The ball was breaking the plane and then he fell into the field of play.”

Gail Burton / AP Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes, right, catches a touchdown pass while being defended by Ravens safety Ed Reed (20), linebacker Bart Scott (57) and safety Jim Leonhard (36) during the fourth quarter.

Maybe the ball did break the plane. If the initial ruling had been a touchdown, there wouldn’t have been enough evidence to overturn it. The same way there wasn't enough evidence to turn it from a 3-yard completion into a 4-yard touchdown. It just wasn’t clear cut.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh wasn’t too pleased about the confusion, saying the official closest to him didn’t offer an explanation of whether the ball crossed the plane or not.

But he added, “No one was explaining too much to me at that point in time, so we’re moving on.”

The Ravens, now 9-5, have plenty to move on towards. They have a game Saturday against the Cowboys and are in a battle for one of the AFC wild cards along with the 10-4 Colts and the 9-5 Jets, Patriots and Dolphins. They don’t have a lot of time for navel-gazing about what Coleman ruled and whether or not they got jobbed.