We already know that the NFL will call roughing the passer whether it is or is not, actually, roughing the passer. NFL EVP of Football Operations Troy Vincent recently said as much after controversial roughing calls against Chris Jones of the Chiefs and Grady Jarrett of the Faocons.
“We support those calls,” Vincent said during an October 16 appearance on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown. “Why? Because in Article 11 [of the rulebook], this is the one rule – and we have a ton of rules – where the judgment you give the referee, that white hat, is the latitude to call that play in real time. If that’s what both Carl and Jerome in those two particular games, if that’s what they saw, the rule allows us to say yes to support it.”
