The new roughing the passer penalty might become the most talked about rule change this year.
Fans got a glimpse of the controversial new rule during the preseason and Thursday night’s opener after a couple of seemingly inexplicable calls. During the first NFL Sunday of the season, there were plenty more examples of the penalty being called, and it left many fans and observers perplexed.
Bengals DL Carlos Dunlap was called for roughing the passer on this seemingly clear hit on Andrew Luck:
Put red jerseys on the QBs if this is roughing the passer pic.twitter.com/SBznSzDJTK
— Barstool Sports (@barstooltweetss) September 9, 2018
New Orleans’ Marcus Davenport was called for roughing the passer on Ryan Fitzpatrick here:
“Roughing the passer” pic.twitter.com/ZZquiuv5eA
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 9, 2018
Cleveland’s Myles Garrett was called for the penalty for this hit on Ben Roethlisberger:
Roughing the passer call on Myles Garrett. Landed on Roethlisberger with his body weight. A fourth down stop turned into a touchdown the very next play. pic.twitter.com/fHGgRYTWSP
— Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly) September 9, 2018
So why are players being penalized for what seem like clean hits? The new rule says that defensive players are not allowed to punish or stuff a quarterback or lay on him with body weight.
Here’s the language of the rule:
A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as “stuffing” a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball, even if the rusher makes his initial contact with the passer within the one-step limitation provided for in (a) above. When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (e.g., during or just after throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to wrap up the passer with the defensive player’s arms and not land on the passer with all or most of his body weight.
It’s going to be extremely difficult for defensive players to avoid this penalty because they risk missing a tackle otherwise. This is a bad rule change that is unfair to defensive players. The NFL should reconsider the rule after the season.
