Well, it’s a start
Roughing-the-passer rule isn’t changing, but it may be applied differently
Following a series of controversial roughing-the-passer calls this season, there is growing sentiment within the NFL that a new rule aimed at protecting quarterbacks should be applied differently by game officials the remainder of the season.
Multiple people familiar with the inner workings of the NFL competition committee said the language of the rule — which makes it a penalty for defensive players to land with all or most of their body weight on the quarterback — would not be altered this season but that the way it is enforced would change.
The new rule has been criticized by players as unduly harsh and unfair to defenders. The controversy has revolved around, in particular, two calls against Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews.
In both cases, the league office supported the roughing-the-passer calls made by officials against Matthews. But that does not necessarily mean that the calls were consistent with how the league wants to see the roughing-the-passer rule enforced, according to people with knowledge of the league’s thinking.
A person close to the rules process said that no formal instructions to the on-field officials are likely to be made but it is expected that the roughing-the-passer rule will be called differently, with the shift in emphasis becoming clear through officiating videos distributed by the league.
“I think you’ll see a change going forward,” that person said. “I’m not sure we can do anything this year.”
Matthews, other NFL players and many outside observers have been sharply critical of the calls against Matthews, saying he was being penalized for what amounted to textbook tackles at a time when defenders are prohibited from hitting quarterbacks in the head or below the knee.
“What you saw there was a football play,” Matthews said in the visitors’ locker room at FedEx Field following Sunday’s game. “I beat my man. I’m right in front of the quarterback. I get my head to the side. I wrap him up ... He gave himself up. I land on him. I pull my hands out ... I like the spirit of the rule. I just think we’re going in the wrong direction.”
Matthews said Sunday the league is getting soft.
“I don’t run the league office,” he said. “But you’d like to see football be football. Football has hard hits. It’s a physical game. It’s not for the faint of heart. We get after one another ...
“It’s going in the wrong direction.”
Meanwhile, Redskins safety D.J. Swearinger called it a “horrible rule” that should be taken out.
“It’s going to win and lose games for people,” Swearinger said. “It’s not fair for defenders. It’s not fair for this league. It’s not fair for football, in general.
“That’s not how you play football. The game wasn’t designed to play tag. The game was designed to hit people. We put on pads to hit people. That’s how the game was made. You disrespect the game of football when you bring all these bull rules. You sign up for this game to be physical. Not to play twohand touch.”
Swearinger said he’s adjusted his game in recent years to adjust to a bevy of protections made in the name of safety. Some of the rules — and how they’re being interpreted by officials — have caused frustrations.
The helmet rule, which penalizes any player for initiating contact with an opponent with the helmet, and roughing the passer, which states a player can’t land on a quarterback with his body weight, have garnered the most attention this season.