Rams fans, Titans fans and neutrals all seem to agree the roughing the passer call on Aaron Donald against Ryan Tannehill was utterly terrible.
NFL fans are really fed up with weak roughing the passer calls and who can blame them when you see a flag fly like it did for a shove by Aaron Donald on Ryan Tannehill.
The Rams defender was chasing the Titans quarterback towards the sideline on a third down LA had to stop. When Tannehill tossed the ball out of bounds, Donald gave him a push. It was the kind of thing you see all the time in football with no consequence.
This one got flagged for roughing the passer and extended Tennessee’s drive.
Roughing the passer madness: Aaron Donald on Ryan Tannehill
3rd down, game potentially on the line, and @NFLOfficiating calls THIS roughing the passer for an automatic first down https://t.co/OoFm5YySNh
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) November 8, 2021
The NFL’s rules trying to protect the health and safety of players make sense. However, the way they are applied gets messed up way too often.
It just so happened the Rams offered a much better example of actual roughing the passer a little while later.
First roughing was questionable. This one was, uh, less so. pic.twitter.com/Quico4XysA
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) November 8, 2021
Fans and players can’t make sense of these calls because most of the time they don’t make sense.
People say the NFL (as far as QB’s are concerned) is becoming 2-hand touch.
— EJ Snyder (@FootballEJ) November 8, 2021
After that last “roughing” call on Donald we’re past that: he literally pushed him with 2 hands, as he was throwing the ball... and got the flag.
Truly truly hard to explain, or justify that roughing call.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) November 8, 2021
I'm a Titans fans but that roughing the passer call on Donald is a joke. Terrible call. It helped my team but not a penalty, no way. The 2nd roughing the passer was the right call.
— Jim Maisano (@JimMaisano) November 8, 2021
Just to be clear Rams fans, all of us Titans fans agree that the first roughing call was complete bs but we would've beat you anyways and Jalen Ramsey should've been ejected sooooo....
— Snooze (@SnoozeTweets) November 8, 2021
The one on Donald was the worst call in the NFL this season until next week when a new one will take the crown. That’s the way it seems to work right now.
At least the call likely didn’t change the outcome of the game. Sure, the Rams would have had a slim chance to complete a comeback, but the performance of the two teams gave the Titans the edge either way. And it’s not like LA didn’t benefit from the refs being questionable.