The Green Bay Packers' defense thinks that the new rules in place to protect quarterbacks makes it hard to play defense. A late-game roughing-the-passer call against linebacker Clay Matthews probably cost the Packers a win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Packers defensive tackle Mike Daniels said that the new set of rules impacted his thought process during the game, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.

“If I wrap him and take him down — [Vikings guard Mike] Remmers is already on me, and Remmers is going to fall on me — then I fall on the quarterback, and now it’s [a 15-yard penalty],” Daniels said. “And now it’s like, ‘Oh, Mike, you’re an idiot.’ So I don’t know. Who knows? It’s just trying to be smart without losing my aggression, and you just don’t know.”

Daniels believes that having to think about the angle at which you hit the quarterback takes away from the pure instinct of the game. The Packers had three roughing-the-passer penalties called against them in their 24-23 comeback victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 1. One of which was in the fourth quarter and gave the Bears a chance to steal the game back.

“It’s hard to play defense now,” Daniels said. “That’s all there is to it. It’s just hard to play defense, really. I don’t know what to say.”

Officials said that Matthews lifted Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins before driving him into the ground in their 29-29 tie on Sunday. There are quite a few guidelines that defenders in the NFL will have to abide by moving forward.

It's a quarterback-driven league, so the referees will continue to protect them to the best of their ability.