The most powerful committee of NFL had already started rethinking about the controversial topic about roughing the passer penalty which was emphasised when the league met in March according to the reports by NFL.com’s Battista. By the looks of it, the calls surrounding Clay Matthews that included the negated the game-conquering interception and also the touchdown which has alarmed the members of the committee.
The committee has come up with a schedule to have a word on a conference call the coming next as one of the sources told ESPN that “there’s some concern that the officials are going a little bit too far with some of these calls.”
The committee might not be able to make some required adjustments until the offseason, as a rule, was implemented as a plausible way to protect the players or just protect the quarterbacks. The dismissal of the rule might also trigger an adverse reaction from the people who have been thinking that the rule is only protecting the quarterbacks who are now the most prominent faces in the NFL today.
There have been 34 roughing passer calls in due course of three weeks. This had a steep increase from the 16 passer calls in the year 2017 and 20 passer calls in 2016. The rule that has been implemented is 23 years old, but it was implemented in the past offseason as the coaches have been complaining that the rule wasn’t getting enforced.
According to the Rule 12 of Section 2 of Article 9, the defenders are prohibited from landing with their full body weight on the quarterback or even driving them to the ground with immense force.
This treats players like the gladiators of the modern day; they are merely the vessels that collect people’s bloodlust. The committee has attempted to balance between the safety of the players and neutralising the violence of the sport which is loved by the fans and the players alike.
