Is… is… is the NFL relaxing on the roughing the passer calls? If Sunday is any indication, the answer is mostly yes.
Through the first three weeks of the season, the referees threw 34 flags for roughing the passer, which was more than twice the total over the same period last year, according to ESPN. On Sunday, there were just two roughing calls.
Last week the NFL released a video showing legal and illegal hits on quarterbacks, with head official Al Riveron repeatedly emphasizing the phrase “most, if not all, of his body weight.” As astutely noted by Packers LB Clay Matthews, who has been called for roughing the passer twice this season, the video conveniently left out his controversial roughing calls for which he wasn’t even fined.