Saints Twitter livid over roughing the passer on Joe Burrow

Demario Davis was called for roughing the passer on Joe Burrow, and Saints Twitter was displeased.

Roughing the passer was front and center last week, and it projects to be a topic of discussion in NFL circles moving forward. Early on in the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints, it became a debate.

Demario Davis was called for a roughing the passer penalty on a play where Joe Burrow left the pocket and threw to the sideline to end the play. Right after Burrow let the ball go, Davis flattened Burrow and was flagged. It was the Saints’ first roughing the passer penalty of the season.

Referees are conditioned to be incredibly conservative when it comes to protecting the quarterback, so it’s not a surprise that they flagged this play that optically looked pretty rough.

CBS’s rules analyst, Gene Steratore, came on the broadcast and suggested he felt it was a bad call because Davis tackled him within one step of throwing the ball away. By the letter of the law, that’s not roughing the passer.

Saints Twitter had thoughts on the roughing the passer call

Some of Saints Twitter actually agreed with the call or understood the officiating crew would probably call it given the circumstances:

We’ll spare you some of the most vulgar reactions, but most of Saints Twitter (and those in the building) hated the call.

It’s tough for the Saints, as it put the Bengals in the red zone, resulting in a touchdown to tie the game at 7. As of publication, the Saints lead by two, 23-21 with over 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

This won’t be the last we hear about roughing the passer this year.