Ball don’t lie: 3 awful calls from Week 8 in the NFL
By Mark Powell
Finding the ‘worst’ calls from Week 8 was borderline impossible, so I settled for awful. Sorry, those are just the rules.
I dared to compliment the officials last week, meaning they had to make me eat my words less than seven days later. That’s just how the football Gods work.
Week 7 featured some of the worst roughing the passer and holding calls of all, but still paled in comparison to what Week 8 had to offer. For those weekly readers, you’ll have to forgive me for repeating myself.
What is roughing the passer in the NFL?
The following is straight from the NFL rulebook:
"“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.”"
Good to know! Now, what happened to Mac Jones on Sunday was most definitely not that.
NFL ref salary: How much to NFL officials make?
As recently as 2019, the average NFL salary was around $205,000. As respectable as that is, given the flack they take on a daily basis from fans and from people like me, it feels a bit low.
Patriots: Mac Jones may never recover
Jones was the beneficiary of the worst roughing the passer calls West of the Mississippi. He was barely touched, and perhaps the officials confused him with a previous quarterback who used to take the field in a New England Patriots jersey.
This is not a call Jones is used to receiving, especially as a rookie.
Touching the QB down by contact is now a personal foul, per @NFLOfficiating pic.twitter.com/5LvB1I3z1L
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) October 31, 2021
How dare the Chargers defender…roll over Jones’ shoulder? I’m sorry, there was no avoiding such contact. Jones legally had to be touched down on the play, and he gave himself up. Thems the rules.
Kirk Cousins legally tackled by the Cowboys
Two for the price of one? You’re welcome.
Kirk Cousins and the Vikings somehow fell to the Cowboys minus Dak Prescott on Sunday Night Football, but oh boy did the officials try to help out Minnesota at home.
Here’s this week’s version of “this isn’t roughing the passer, and we’ve clarified it isn’t, but we’re calling it anyway” pic.twitter.com/mpDbPFXK6E
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) November 1, 2021
No contact to the head or neck area, nor did the Cowboys defender land on Rush. That’s a call Prescott wouldn’t even get.