Kansas City defensive lineman Chris Jones was given a roughing-the-passer penalty late in the first half of the matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday.
On a third-and-eight from the Raiders’ 46-yard line, Jones appeared to force a fumble after sacking Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. Jones landed on Carr and recovered the football for the Chiefs, but he was called for roughing the passer. According to officials, Jones had landed his body on Carr.
After a flag was thrown, Las Vegas would take the 15-yard penalty and parlay it into a field goal to stretch the lead to 20-7. However, the Chiefs managed to catch up and made a comeback to finish the game 30-29.
The implementation of the roughing the passer rule appears under Rule 12, Article 11, Section B of the NFL rulebook, which bans “stuffing” the passer into the ground. This rule dictates that the defensive player must strive to fall to the side of the quarterback’s body or brace his fall with his arms to avoid landing on the quarterback with all or most of his body weight
The NFL is currently under fire for this call. Many players, coaches, and fans are also dissatisfied with how roughing the passer penalties were called these past weeks.
“At some point, you have to be realistic,” ESPN announcer Joe Buck said. “The defense player, what’s he supposed to do, disappear?”
There weren’t many options as Jones cradled the fumble after colliding with Carr.
ESPN officiating analyst John Parry pointed out that Jones braced himself using his left arm. This detail was supposed to be looked at by officials when judging if a defender falls on the quarterback with his full body weight. Parry also disagreed with the call.
“I can see why the Kansas City fans are not thrilled with it,” Parry said.
Referee’s stance
Following the game, referee Carl Cheffers explained his roughing the passer call. He said that Carr was in a passing posture and protected from being tackled with full body weight.
“The quarterback is in the pocket and he’s in a passing posture,” Cheffer said. “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.”
The referee said that Carr still received passing protection despite the fact that the ball had come out before Jones landed on Carr. He went on to say that the fact that Jones had already stripped the ball from Carr had nothing to do with the ruling. The 62-year-old referee added there was nothing to review on the replay of the play.
Roughing the passer in Buccaneers vs. Falcons
In the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons, there was also a contentious roughing the passer call. The penalty was called on Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett late in their game against Tom Bardy by Jerome Boger.
The Falcons were trailing by six points at the time. To get the ball back, it appeared that a punt was required. The Buccaneers ended up with a first down and won the game 21-15.