The NFL’s stringent officiating of the roughing the passer penalty has been under a microscope so far this year after a number of high-profile plays have drawn criticism and questions as to how the defender could have made the play any differently. Clay Matthews in particular has been penalized three times this season in three games.
There was no game that more prominently displayed the varieties in the roughing the passer penalty than the Pittsburgh Steelers’s Monday Night victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, during which four penalties were called, all in the first half.