The NFL is digging in its heels on roughing-the-passer penalties after officials came under withering criticism for a pair of high-profile ticky-tacky calls in Week 5.
The league is not "backing down" on enforcing rules that are designed to protect "defenseless" players, including quarterbacks who are in a passing position, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, citing a league source.
The roughing rule came under particular scrutiny after two highly dubious infractions were called in Week 5, one against Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett for a hit on Bucs quarterback Tom Brady, and the other against Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones for a hit on Raiders QB Derek Carr during Monday Night Football.
Neither Brady nor Carr was injured on the plays in question, but the suspect calls nonetheless prompted all manner of responses.
In the latter incident, ESPN analyst Troy Aikman expressed his disgust by invoking a controversial euphemism, calling for the NFL to "take the dresses off."
Longtime sportswriter Jason La Canfora, one of the hosts of Audacy's "In The Huddle" podcast, suggested that the dubious calls are engendering suspicions of corruption given the league's business ties with the gambling industry.
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“You got to clean this up because this is affecting the outcomes of games and it is affecting point spreads and over/unders and all that stuff that, you know what the NFL, you’re now in that business,” La Canfora said. “You are in the business of wagering. You take all these sponsorships. You run all the ads. You accept all the money. You’re in the business, and this looks shady.”
According to Schefter, roughing calls are actually down pretty sharply year over year.
But for skeptics, the point isn't just the number of calls, it's how and when the rule is being applied -- as La Canfora suggested, in such a way that it seems to affect the outcome of games.
The furor over sketchy roughing calls comes against the backdrop of Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffering a pair of concussions just days apart.
Certainly the primary focus of the Tua discussion has been the league's concussion protocol, but on the first play in which Tua was injured, Bills linebacker Matt Milano was flagged for roughing. On the second, Bengals defensive tackle Josh Tupou was not flagged, even though he spun Tua around and slammed him to the turf.
It's fair to wonder whether the league and its officials were being extra-cautious in the wake of Tua injuries. If so, they may have gone too far.
In any event, with the Tua situation still unresolved, it's probably not surprising that the NFL isn't leaping to loosen roughing infractions, even if there have been some terrible calls.
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