NFL Rules: Roughing the Passer Penalties

**rock_lobster** · 10-10-11, 08:17 PM

Ok, so I understand this is a star driven league at QB and you have to protect them from vicious hits, but for Christ's sake, the roughing the passer calls are getting completely out of hand. I watched the refs yesterday single handedly keep a scoring drive alive for Cam Newton and just now again for the Chicago Bears on penalty calls for roughing the passer, when the hit was totally legit.

They need to find a balance, because at the speed the game is played, it's damn near impossible to get hits on the QB without someone bitching about it.

**Morningfrost** · 10-10-11, 10:26 PM

It was worse last year Rock. This year the refs are still a bit hasty to toss out those flags for roughing the passer, but last year it seemed like they were comin out if the QB had his helmet brushed by a finger.

**Red_Lizard2** · 10-10-11, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by Morningfrost

It was worse last year Rock. This year the refs are still a bit hasty to toss out those flags for roughing the passer, but last year it seemed like they were comin out if the QB had his helmet brushed by a finger.

that actually happened in one of the Cardinals game this year. The guy put his hand up to block the pass and when he brought his hand down it brushed the facemask of the QB and Roughing the Passer was called. It was pretty pathetic.

I kind of wonder if they want balance, as some have been mentioning how the Roughing the Passer rules and Pass Interference (how they are today) is basically creating high scoring games and massive numbers (though I've heard a better explanation as well)

**enf** · 10-10-11, 11:47 PM

If you look at it through the ref's eyes, it might be a little difficult. Imagine your whole career reffing and not having to worry about such calls and now being analyzed and picked apart every play. They're probably just a bit jumpy or flag-happy so they dont get ridiculed by the commissioner or even worse, lose their job. Its worst case scenario, but if you think about it, reffing is their livelihood. They eat, sleep, and breathe football rules.

**Fajita!** · 10-11-11, 02:09 AM

They do call it when it pretty obviously didn't happen every now and then, but overall I think they do a good job.

**Foes** · 10-11-11, 02:19 AM

Pretty soon the NFL will change to the NFFL..National Flag Football League.

**CivilWars** · 10-11-11, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by enf

If you look at it through the ref's eyes, it might be a little difficult. Imagine your whole career reffing and not having to worry about such calls and now being analyzed and picked apart every play. They're probably just a bit jumpy or flag-happy so they dont get ridiculed by the commissioner or even worse, lose their job. Its worst case scenario, but if you think about it, reffing is their livelihood. They eat, sleep, and breathe football rules.

You do know the NFL is the only main stream pro sport with part time refs, right? All of these guys have/had other jobs.

Sent from my UrMoms using Tapatalk

**Morningfrost** · 10-11-11, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Foes

Pretty soon the NFL will change to the NFFL..National Flag Football League.

Ya know, I see something like this every year, and while it doesn't quite piss me off, it does annoy me. Roughing the Passer flags need to be cut down on a little bit, but the vast majority of rule changes for player safety I've been in agreement with. Cutting down on the wedge formation during kickoffs, moving the kickoffs up, things like that have been large gains for player safety because the kickoff is the single-most dangerous play in the NFL when it comes to injuries, since both teams are building up heads of steam over the course of 30+ yards apiece then crashing into each other. From the numbers I've seen, it also hasn't drastically reduced the number of returns since teams have been bringing them out from deeper in the end zone, but it's slowed the teams down a little bit when it comes to those collisions, especially since on most of the kickoffs I've seen, the kicking team is lined up on the 35 instead of further back and getting a running start before the kick.

The only real change I would like to see in the rules is in regards to pass interference. Instead of having one level severity covering every instance of defensive PI, I'd like to see a 10-15 yard version for non-intential interference while keeping the "spot of the foul" rule for intentional interference. That might cut down on a little bit of the offensive dominance since the defense can play a little bit more aggressively.

Some of the rules that have garnered the most negative attention, such as leading with the helmet and the defenseless player flags possibly are called too much, but damnit those types of hits need to go regardless. They cause serious head injuries with lasting effects. For those that argue that the players have been taught to do these things to make the hit well, tough luck. Now it's on the coaches to teach proper tackling techniques like wrapping a person up, you know, kinda like it was done years and years ago before big hits started to garner more attention, notoriety, and money being paid out to those who could provide them.