Rams push to prevent future Tom Brady roughing the passer calls

The Los Angeles Rams are planning to propose a rule change that will allow roughing the passer calls to be reviewable in the future.

There has been a ton of controversy in the NFL over the past week due to a ridiculous roughing the passer call against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 5.

Despite what looked like a clean sack by Grady Jarrett late in the game, the Falcons were flagged for roughing Tom Brady on a play that would make it impossible for defenders to tackle the quarterback if it was deemed illegal.

The call had a major impact on the game as it prevented the Falcons from getting their offense back on the field in an attempt to complete a fourth-quarter comeback.

There is currently no recourse for bad calls like that one but the Los Angeles Rams have designs on trying to fix that in the future.

The Rams want to make roughing the passer calls reviewable

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported this morning that the Rams are planning to submit a rule to the league’s competition committee in the offseason that would make all roughing the passer calls subject to replay review.

Los Angeles tried to submit this rule last season and it was unanimously rejected by the committee but the Rams appear to be committed to trying again this offseason.

While it is true that roughing the passer calls are down significantly compared to this point last season, the penalties assessed to Jarrett and Kansas City’s Chris Jones have the ability to significantly swing field position in pivotal moments of the game. Leaving blatantly bad calls unreviewable seems bad for business, which is why the topic will be discussed again at an NFL owner’s meeting in New York this week.

The proposal from the Rams makes sense, but whether it would be successful upon implementation remains to be seen.

A similar rule change that made pass interference calls subject to review was implemented for just one season in 2019 and was allowed to lapse after just 13-of-81 challenged interference calls were overturned.