NFL Fans Are Furious With The League’s New ‘Body Weight’ Roughing The Passer Rule After A Series Of Questionable Calls In Week 1

The NFL’s new roughing the passer rule which prohibits defensive players from landing on a quarterback with their body weight has been universally panned since it debuted in the preseason.

The rule was put in place to prevent an injury similar to the one Aaron Rodgers suffered last season when Anthony Barr drove him into the ground after a tackle last season.

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.

During the early portion of the NFL’s Sunday week 1 slate of games there were three different times when the new rule was called that made NFL fans irate

https://twitter.com/BrandonSaho/status/1038869505903128576

https://twitter.com/MelloYelloMan39/status/1038871164968468480
I’m not sure how any of those players are supposed to prevent themselves from falling forward.

https://twitter.com/candice_petill/status/1038871742138265601

https://twitter.com/davedavehew/status/1038871269297537024