It seems as though there is at least one horrible roughing the passer call in the NFL every week, and the Washington Commanders were the latest victims in their game against the New England Patriots on Sunday.
The Patriots were leading 14-10 in the third quarter and had 3rd-and-10 at around midfield. Commanders defensive end KJ Henry sacked Mac Jones for a big loss, and Jones fumbled on the play. Washington recovered, but the turnover was negated after Henry was called for roughing the passer.
This was flagged for roughing the passer pic.twitter.com/T7d76u5vgJ
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) November 5, 2023
The official who threw the flag must have felt that Henry “stuffed” Jones into the ground, which is when a defender lands on top of the quarterback with most or all of his weight. The NFL has made that a point of emphasis, but the Henry play looked like nothing more than a standard tackle.
FOX rules analyst Dean Blandino said he did not agree with the call.
“This is just a tackle. This is just momentum. There’s nothing punishing. There’s no second act,” Blandino said during the broadcast. “I don’t like it as a foul, but this is what the league is directing officials to call.”
Even if the Jones fumble was overturned, the Patriots would have had to punt. Instead, they got into field goal range and were essentially handed 3 free points.
The Patriots were on the other end of a similar call two weeks ago (video here), but they caught a huge break against Washington. The NFL badly needs to find a way to better define the “stuffing” rule.
