While the Kansas City Chiefs ultimately pulled out a 30-29 victory on Monday Night Football against the Las Vegas Raiders, there was one very controversial moment when Chris Jones got hit with a roughing the passer call after he strip-sacked Derek Carr. On Thursday, NFL VP Perry Fewell doubled down on their decision to make this call.
“The Kansas City defender executes his rush plan in his effort to sack the quarterback,” Fewell said in the video. “He lands with his full body weight on the drive to the ground. A quarterback in the pocket, in a passing posture, gets full protection until he can defend himself. This was a properly called foul for roughing the passer.”
The whole point is Jones put his full weight on Carr as he hit the ground. The defensive lineman did use his left hand to try and brace himself, but regardless, NFL officials still saw it as a penalty:
— NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) October 11, 2022
Even though Carr lost possession of the ball before hitting the grass, it's still seen as an illegal hit because of Jones' body weight on the quarterback. It makes sense to a certain extent, but it also seems rather confusing since he didn't have the football anymore.
Jones was quite heated post-game after the penalty:
“I’m not saying the ref is wrong, but I’m just saying those situations can affect the game tremendously,” Jones said. “Especially, in the NFL playoffs, a critical situation like that, a game-changing play, it can affect the whole (expletive) game. Excuse my language but we just have to take initiative as a league and see what we can do better.”
Social media blew up over the call, but the NFL is sticking to its ruling.
Follow Us
Subscribe