By ROB MAADDI (AP Pro Football Writer)
The NFL didn’t give officers a directive to emphasise roughing-the-passer penalties following Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion, however the matter shall be mentioned subsequent week when NFL homeowners meet in New York, an individual with direct information of the matter informed The Associated Press.
The particular person, talking on situation of anonymity as a result of the conversations are inside, stated the league isn’t planning to make any rule modifications amid outrage over two disputed calls in Week 5. Roughing-the-passer penalties are down 45% from this level final yr. Through Week 5 in 2021, 51 have been known as. Only 28 have been known as this season, in line with league stats.
The league’s Competition Committee — comprised of six workforce homeowners/executives and 4 head coaches — makes a lot of the suggestions for rule modifications. Teams also can suggest rule modifications to be voted on by homeowners, which require 24 votes to go.
One concept, steered by Chiefs defensive sort out Chris Jones on Monday night time after he was flagged, could be to permit video evaluation of roughing calls.
That is unlikely, in line with an individual with information of the state of affairs.
The league already went down that street, making go interference reviewable for one season after an egregious missed foul late within the fourth quarter within the NFC championship in January 2019 price the New Orleans Saints a visit to the Super Bowl.
The experiment failed miserably and the rule wasn’t thought-about the subsequent yr.
Protecting quarterbacks is a precedence for homeowners, who pay massive bucks for the faces of their franchises. Twenty-five QBs are making a minimum of $25 million this season.
The questionable name towards Jones — the second in two days — almost price Kansas City in its 30-29 comeback victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Chiefs had simply scored to trim their deficit to 17-7 when Jones stripped Raiders quarterback Derek Carr from behind simply earlier than halftime. The Pro Bowl defensive sort out landed on Carr whereas additionally developing with the ball — replays confirmed it was clearly free and that Jones cleanly recovered — however referee Carl Cheffers threw a flag for roughing the passer.
“The quarterback is in the pocket and he’s in a passing posture. He gets full protection of all the aspects of what we give the quarterback in a passing posture,” Cheffers informed a pool reporter after the sport. “My ruling was the defender landed on him with full body weight. The quarterback is protected from being tackled with full body weight.”
On Sunday, Falcons defensive sort out Grady Jarrett was flagged by referee Jerome Boger for a seemingly innocent sack on Tom Brady. The penalty gave the Buccaneers a primary down and allowed them to expire the clock on a 21-15 victory.
Boger made the same crucial name late within the fourth quarter of the Ravens-Bills sport every week earlier on a play that many additionally thought didn’t to warrant a flag.
Boger known as one other borderline roughing penalty within the Falcons-Buccaneers sport when Vita Vea was pushed into Atlanta quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Roughing the passer is the one rule the place referees are instructed to err on the facet of warning.
The NFL rulebook notes: “When in doubt about a roughness call or potentially dangerous tactic against the quarterback, the referee should always call roughing the passer.”
Jones, who has been flagged for roughing the passer 9 occasions in his profession, has an answer.
“We’ve got to be able to review it in the booth, you know what I mean?” Jones stated. “I think that’s the next step for the NFL as a whole. If we’re going to call it a penalty at that high (of rate), then we’ve got to be able to review it and make sure, because sometimes looks can be deceiving.”
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AP Sports Dave Skretta contributed.
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Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robmaaddi
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Source: www.bostonherald.com