NFL officials are not very good at differentiating between what is roughing the passer and what is not roughing the passer. Those officials are not helped by the league’s rulebook, which gives the parameters of the penalty, and then tells officials to do this:
When in doubt about a roughness call or potentially dangerous tactic against the passer, the Referee should always call roughing the passer.
So, maybe that’s why Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Grady Jarrett got absolutely robbed on this roughing the passer call as he sacked Tom Brady with 3:03 left in the game.
absolutely horrible roughing the passer call pic.twitter.com/3ojamsoblC
— alex (@highlghtheaven) October 9, 2022
If you can tell us what constitutes roughing the passer here, you’re smarter than we are. Jarrett rolled Brady to the ground, but there was no extracurricular activity, and at no point was Brady’s head in danger.
Even Brady wanted no part of this discussion.
Tom Brady on the roughing the passer call: “I don’t throw the flags.”
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) October 9, 2022
Worst of all, this penalty was a game-changer. The Buccaneers had third-and-five from the Atlanta 47-yard line, and the sack would have forced the Buccaneers to punt, up 21-15. But the “penalty” gave the Bucs first-and-10 at the Atlanta 32-yard line, and from there, Tampa Bay was able to bleed the clock to the win.
We are not saying that the Falcons would have won if they had gotten the ball back. But we are saying that the Bucs benefited from a roughing the passer call that was both ridiculous and egregious, and the crew, led by Jerome Boger, completely blew the call.
Not that this would be the second time in a week that Boger’s crew blew such a call in a situation that could have been game-changing. In Week 4, Boger and his crew called roughing on Baltimore Ravens cornerback Brandon Stephens when it wasn’t, and that was a killer in a game against the Buffalo Bills that the Ravens lost.
Referee Jerome Boger to pool reporter (@jeffzrebiec) on roughing the passer penalty on Brandon Stephens:
"What I had was forcible contact in the head/neck area of the quarterback with the helmet."
Confident about head/neck contact?
“Yes.”
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) October 2, 2022
Boger doubled down then, and he doubled down after the Bucs-Falcons game in ways that just didn’t jibe with the tape.
Referee Jerome Boger told pool reporter @gregauman that the roughing the passer penalty on #Falcons DT Grady Jarrett was for “unnecessarily throwing (Tom Brady) to the ground.” pic.twitter.com/rqxyNzjd6I
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 9, 2022
The NFL really needs to get its arms around the loose nature of this penalty as it’s written, so that officials of Boger’s caliber have the guardrails they clearly need to call things correctly on the field.
