Aaron Rodgers calls out a play to his offense from the shotgun formation. He takes the snap and rolls out right. Anthony Barr pursues him. He snaps a bullet pass to Martellus Bennett who drops it, immediately cursing his apparent butterfingers. Rodgers is down back on the other side of the line of scrimmage after Barr stands up and walks away. The Green Bay Packers’ quarterback has a broken clavicle and is out for the rest of the 2017-18 season. Some people say that the new “roughing the passer” rules in the NFL go overboard, but situations like Barr’s hit on Rodgers indicate otherwise. Rodgers had already thrown the football by the time Barr smashed his purple helmet into the quarterback’s collarbone. On the other hand, Rodgers’ teammate, outside linebacker, Clay Matthews has voiced his disdain for the roughing the passer calls including a tweet stating that, “The calls just keep coming—no matter what game.” He also said in a postgame press conference (after a roughing the passer call on Matthews cost the Packers a win) that he thinks the new safety precautions the league is trying to use go too far and hurt the gameplay. He said, “Unfortunately, this league is going in a direction that a lot of people don't like. The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me that play the game hard.” (Matthews’ penalty occurred on the pivotal drive of a Week 2 2018 game between the Packers and, incidentally, the Vikings where Kirk Cousins threw a game-losing interception to Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander, winning the game for his Green Bay opponents. Fortunately for Minnesota, the play was called back due to a roughing the passer call on Matthews. He tackled Cousins around the waist, but the ball had just barely left Cousins’ hand, so the referees threw a flag.) Instances like the Washington Redskins’ Alex Smith’s Week 10 season-ending injury raise more questions about roughing the passer. After the Houston Texans’ cornerback Kareem Jackson and defensive end J.J. Watt combined for the sack, Smith lay on the ground in brutal agony. The hit was legal, but Smith’s leg was snapped. If that’s legal, but still that dangerous, then the league might have a few more kinks to work out in the rule and the protection of quarterbacks. Colt McCoy stepped in for Smith for the rest of the 23-21 loss to Houston.
Jesse A. Cook “Roughing The Passer Complications” November 24, 2018
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