Can NFL fix roughing the passer penalties? How officiating the call has changed, and what's next

One concussed NFL backmost and 2 questionable flags for roughing the passer. That's each it took for the archetypal officiating feeding frenzy of the 2022 season.

There is nary grounds that Tua Tagovailoa's concussion, and its subsequent fallout, is connected to the brace of punishment flags that prompted leaguewide treatment Sunday and Monday. It makes for an casual communicative -- referees Jerome Boger and Carl Cheffers threw unwarranted flags astatine the behest of a league that is trying to negociate its estimation for subordinate information -- but it's not supported by thing concrete.

Multiple league and officiating sources said Tuesday determination has been nary edict to further support quarterbacks pursuing the Tagovailoa incident. ESPN officiating expert John Parry, a retired referee who maintains adjacent ties with the league's officiating department, said: "There has been nary directive to alteration anything."

So what is going connected here? Why did we spot Atlanta Falcons antiaircraft lineman Grady Jarrett penalized 15 yards Sunday for "unnecessarily" throwing Tampa Bay Buccaneers backmost Tom Brady to the ground, arsenic Boger described it? And wherefore did Cheffers propulsion a emblem connected Kansas City Chiefs antiaircraft lineman Chris Jones for landing connected Las Vegas Raiders backmost Derek Carr with his afloat assemblage weight, arsenic Cheffers said successful a subsequent excavation report?

NFL owners volition sermon roughing the passer erstwhile they conscionable adjacent week successful New York, and the NFL's contention committee already has plans to discuss the punishment aft the season amid outrage implicit the 2 disputed calls.

Let's instrumentality a deeper look astatine the situation, including the revelation that roughing the passer penalties person really plummeted this season, earlier considering imaginable solutions -- including replay review.

Did you accidental roughing the passer flags are down?

Yes. There person been 29 roughing penalties this season, according to the ESPN Stats & Information database. That's down from 54 done Week 5 past season, 41 successful 2020 and 59 successful 2010.

The NFL's contention committee was acrophobic that officials threw excessively galore flags for roughing the passer successful 2021. The full was 153, a 12% emergence from 2020. In reviewing video of the 2021 season, the committee -- with enactment from the NFL's shot operations section -- recovered excessively galore instances of flags for mild oregon inadvertent contact. So the committee issued a constituent of clarification to punctual officials that the rulebook requires "forcible" interaction to merit a flag.

So wherefore are we inactive seeing these types of calls?

The flags from Boger and Cheffers autumn into a class the NFL added to the rulebook successful 2018, and is lone tangentially related to the contented of "forcible" interaction the contention committee clarified this spring. The amended roughing the passer regularisation prohibits defenders "from committing specified intimidating and punishing acts arsenic 'stuffing' a passer into the crushed oregon unnecessarily wrestling oregon driving him down aft the passer has thrown the ball."

The regularisation goes connected to accidental a defender "must strive to autumn to the broadside of the quarterback's body, oregon to brace his autumn with his arms to debar landing connected the backmost with each oregon astir of his assemblage weight."

After issuing its clarification this spring, the contention committee told officials it was satisfied with the mode they were calling the assemblage weight/unnecessarily throwing constituent of the regularisation and recommended they proceed connected the existent path.

Did Jarrett truly propulsion Brady to the crushed unnecessarily?

It's a judgement call, and that's partially wherefore the pb referee is astir solely liable for calling roughing the passer penalties.

Sometimes referees marque mistakes, and this wouldn't beryllium the archetypal clip this play we person seen Boger propulsion a emblem for roughing the passer that didn't walk the oculus test. You lone person to spell backmost to Week 4, erstwhile helium penalized Baltimore Ravens cornerback Brandon Stephens for what helium aboriginal said was "forcible interaction to the head/neck" of Buffalo Bills backmost Josh Allen. Replays showed Stephens deed Allen successful the chest.

In Kansas City, what could Jones person done differently?

Jones was successful an antithetic concern due to the fact that the shot came escaped arsenic helium and Carr were falling. Jones people and instinctively utilized 1 limb to drawback the ball, limiting his quality to brace the autumn oregon rotation to the side. Cheffers said successful the excavation study that helium judged Jones to person landed connected Carr "with his afloat assemblage weight." Again, that is simply a judgement call, but the fumble surely analyzable the concern for Jones.

Is determination immoderate mode to hole this?

The NFL volition reappraisal roughing the passer successful the offseason. The league, successful fact, reviews each play of each play erstwhile it is over. There is nary denotation that the league volition alteration thing successful the short-term, however, arsenic it typically tries to debar overreacting to a fistful of high-profile calls. While they person made in-season adjustments to administrative rules, including the concussion protocol, determination is nary precedent for changing the written presumption of a subjective judgement telephone during the people of a season.

What astir successful the agelong term?

The NFL could see 3 options.

First, it could bash nothing.

Second, it could rise the modular for throwing a emblem for the assemblage weight/unnecessarily throwing constituent of roughing the passer, requiring much unit and unit to merit a penalty. The league, however, seldom changes rules to supply little extortion for quarterbacks. If it chose this route, it could beryllium done done a directive to officials during the play oregon successful a regularisation alteration during the offseason. Again, determination is nary denotation the NFL is looking to marque immoderate in-season adjustments.

Third, it could marque roughing the passer taxable to replay review.

Replay review? Oh no...

Oh yes.

The Chiefs' Jones is among those advocating for specified calls to beryllium reviewed, noting however importantly they tin interaction the result of a game. NFL owners mostly person been opposed to making subjective judgement calls portion of replay review, with the one-year objection of walk interference successful 2019, preferring alternatively to bounds it to nonsubjective measurements specified arsenic whether a subordinate was successful bounds oregon if helium was down by contact.

Adding roughing the passer to replay reappraisal would necessitate a regularisation alteration that needs support from 24 of 32 owners.

Would it work?

It would beryllium connected the modular the NFL utilized to reappraisal specified calls. Overturning a telephone connected the tract presently requires "clear and obvious" grounds of a mistake, according to the league rulebook. When applied to walk interference successful 2019, that modular proved excessively precocious to code astir challenges. The league overturned lone 24 of 101 walk interference plays it reviewed.

One root with heavy cognition of officiating said, nether the existent standard, the Week 5 Boger telephone would astir apt beryllium overturned but the Cheffers telephone would beryllium upheld.

In bid to much aggressively code disputes successful replay, the modular would person to let the play to beryllium "re-officiated" alternatively than viewed for a wide and evident mistake. That would necessitate a important philosophical alteration from owners who are already leery astir crippled interruptions and technological intrusions connected the game.

Where bash we spell from here?

The likeliest result is the presumption quo. Officials are human. Sometimes they marque mistakes, and sometimes their calls alteration the result of games. This acceptable of calls came with coincidental timing of a overmuch larger and superior story. The NFL addressed the fallout of Tagovailoa's concussion by updating its concussion protocols but not, by each accounts, asking officials to elevate backmost protection.