Ball don’t lie: 3 worst calls from Week 10 in the NFL

1. What is roughing the passer?

How many times can we have the same argument? This isn’t Thanksgiving dinner…yet. The official NFL rulebook states the following as roughing the passer:

“Because the act of passing often puts the quarterback (or any other player attempting a pass) in a position where he is particularly vulnerable to injury, special rules against roughing the passer apply. The Referee has principal responsibility for enforcing these rules. Any physical acts against a player who is in a passing posture (i.e. before, during, or after a pass) which, in the Referee’s judgment, are unwarranted by the circumstances of the play will be called as fouls.”

Alright, cool. There are five guiding principles as to what roughing the passer truly is: stuffing the quarterback into the ground, clubbing the quarterback, hitting the quarterback after the ball has left the passer’s hand, helmet-to-helmet contact, or hitting below the knee.

It sounds straight forward, but it’s all left up to interpretation from the officiating crew, which leads to brutal calls like the following, which came within hours of each other:

The first was a perfectly legal sack by Kevin Minter of the Bucs. The official likely threw the flag because Minter put his entire body weight on Teddy Bridgewater, but how exactly was he supposed to avoid doing so? Minter is running at full speed directly towards the quarterback. If he’s to make an impact play, he has to leap from about a yard out and make direct contact. There is no way around the collision which occurred.

Poor Kentavius Street. There was no way they were going to let you get away with such a strong, legal hit on Drew Brees of all quarterbacks. Brees is fragile at this point in his career, an American flag blowing in the wind, if you will. So when Street sent him back a decade, likely to his San Diego days, with a massive hit on Sunday, the officials weren’t having it.

Street didn’t even land on Brees with his entire body weight. He did everything right, and was still penalized, which makes it arguably the worst roughing the passer penalty I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Recap: It was a rough week. Boston Scott’s review could’ve gone either way, but losing track of the time on the field AND submitting two of the worst roughing the passer penalties in recent memory is due for a C-, at best. Please, please don’t let this be a theme down the stretch. I’m not sure how much my heart can take.