Reports Say NFL to Discuss Roughing the Passer Calls After 2022 Season
Oct 11, 2022, 12:30 PM
TAMPA, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 09: Grady Jarrett #97 of the Atlanta Falcons sacks Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the fourth quarter of the game at Raymond James Stadium on October 09, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
After a weekend of controversial calls on the gridiron, the NFL’s competition committee will look to mull over roughing the passer penalties during the offseason, according to ESPN’s Ed Werder Tuesday.
The NFL’s competition committee, composed of six team owners/executives and four head coaches, makes the recommendations to the league office for rule changes, which require 24 of 32 votes from the league’s owners.
“Well, the hard part is that because we have no real standard for what roughing the passer looks like, we will always get a wide range of what a referee decides is and isn’t a foul,” a committee member told Werder. “The only way to correct that is to have a ‘review process’ for personal fouls. We may even have to do that for OPI (offensive pass interference) and DPI. These are huge fouls that impact and can change the game when the foul is or isn’t called. I don’t know if the powers that be would want that ‘review process’ for personal fouls or not, though.”
Fans and organizations alike were left stunned by two controversial calls in Week 5, both ruled roughing the passer that swung the momentum massively in said contests.
The first occurred Sunday when Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett sacked Tom Brady late in the fourth quarter. Referee Jerome Boger threw the flag, signaling for roughing the passer that gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a first down, and later the win.
refs called this roughing the passer on 3rd down and i genuinely do not know what Grady Jarrett could have done differently pic.twitter.com/VX6i0UpJiL
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) October 9, 2022
“What I had was the defender grabbed the quarterback while he was still in the pocket and unnecessarily throwing him to the ground,” Boger said in a postgame pool report. “That is what I was making my decision based on.”
The initial outrage from Sunday carried over into Monday night when Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones strip-sacked Raiders quarterback Derek Carr right before halftime. Again a flag was thrown by referee Carl Cheffers for a controversial roughing the passer call.
This roughing the passer call is trash!!! Do you want Chris Jones to lay a pillow down and tuck him in? #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/GS3rwYI2aA
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 11, 2022
“The quarterback is in the pocket and he’s in a passing posture,” Cheffers said after the game. “He gets full protection of all the aspects of what we give the quarterback in a passing posture. So, when he was tackled, my ruling was the defender landed on him with full body weight. The quarterback is protected from being tackled with full body weight. My ruling was roughing the passer for that reason.”
After the game, Jones suggested that the NFL should allow replays on personal fouls to better assist the officials. The league has been against such a notion in the past, worried about the pace of play within the game itself.
As for the rules, the NFL handbook states: “When in doubt about a roughness call or potentially dangerous tactic against the quarterback, the referee should always call roughing the passer.”
