This offseason the NFL adopted a controversial roughing the passer penalty that prohibits defenders from landing with their weight on top of QB’s.
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.
This week the NFL’s competition committee held conference call to discuss the rule but they ultimately decided that nothing would change this season.
Via USA Today
The league announced that its competition committee conducted a conference call Wednesday evening “to discuss the enforcement of roughing the passer rules with a specific emphasis on the use of body weight by a defender.”
The group reviewed infractions of the rule, which has been in place since 1995 but is being re-emphasized in the name of quarterback safety, from both this season’s games and last year’s.
Per the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, the committee ultimately “determined there would be no changes to the point of emphasis approved this spring or to the rule.
During tonight’s Colts-Patriots Thursday night game, Colts fans were up in arms when Andrew Luck was crushed by two defenders but somehow didn’t draw a roughing the passer penalty.
Luck gets body-slammed by two defenders: Clean hit.
Brady gets tapped on the helmet: Roughing the passer!
Wtf. pic.twitter.com/lKcdME0Kn5
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) October 5, 2018
Good thing the NFL didn't change the roughing the passer rule based on that conference call last week. Patriots took a team picture as they were landing on Andrew Luck for that sack and yet there were no flags. But no changes were made to the rule. Wink. Wink.
— Don Banks (@DonBanks) October 5, 2018
So andrew luck isnt protected by the roughing the passer call. Stupid AF
— 49ers KB (@King_Bazil056) October 5, 2018
To make matters worse, Tom Brady was able to draw a roughing the passer penalty after Colts player barely touched him on the helmet.
Andrew Luck gets bodyslammed by three guys, no flag
Tom Brady get slapped in the face mask: Roughing the passer
— Wyatt (@wyatt_mccann) October 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/Bethany_M_Huh/status/1048028839983685637
This roughing the passer bs is getting out of hand. Tom Brady gets lightly slapped and it’s roughing the passer, Andrew Luck gets double teamed driven to the turf and no call? Where’s the consistency? What are we even doing? #patriots #colts #football #nfl pic.twitter.com/xxDT5F72H5
— Mediocre_Football (@MediocreFootba1) October 5, 2018
TOM BRADY GETS FLICKED IN THE NOSE AND ITS ROUGHING THE PASSER BUT CARSON WENTZ GETS PUNCHED IN THE FACE AND NOTHING. IM DONE WITH FOOTBALL.
— Kate Hunzer (@kate_hunzer) October 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/LuckIn2014/status/1048016513502986240
Najee Goode just touched Tom Brady's helmet, with his palm, and got a roughing the passer penalty. #FullContactSport
— Jeff Vickers (@jvickers78) October 5, 2018