That kind of hit has been completely legislated out of the game. The evolution is ongoing, but now it seems to have reached a tipping point, with fans and players alike throwing up their arms in the universal symbol for I Give Up! At issue is change to an year-old rules infraction, which has abruptly been dusted off and magnified at the behest of the NFL rules committee. But this has become the hill on which a form of traditional football seems destined to slowly die, as safety meets business and the only real means of keeping players healthy and coffers brimming is the continued emphasis on the forward pass.

According to Pro Football Reference, only 40 times in NFL history has a QB thrown six or more TD passes in a single game—and it happened twice in the first four weeks of the season by two guys with a combined 20 games of starting experience, mind you. The games of Sept. Indeed, mass confusion was foreseen by some when, this spring, the NFL created a rule to penalize any player for lowering his helmet to initiate contact, anywhere on the field. Many fans and critics saw this as a bridge too far.

But while they were right about the too far part, they were wrong about the bridge. It is a different rule that has thrown the NFL into chaos: The original rider, added in , states: Garrett kept his head clear, wrapped up Roethlisberger and appeared to roll off the QB as the two fell to the wet grass.

Roughing The Passer Penalties

There would be more. Matthews even placed his own right arm on the ground to soften the entire collision. The teams finished tied at Matthews was livid afterward. Did I put pressure on him?

Is the 'leftwing' roughing-the-passer rule at risk of ruining the NFL?

I thought I hit him within his waist to chest; I got my head across, put my hands down. I feel like I did the right thing to influence the game. In Week 3, Dolphins defensive end William Hayes paid for all this confusion when he tore his right ACL trying to avoid landing on top of Raiders quarterback Derek Carr during a sack—definitely an unintended consequence. That incident rippled throughout the league. Overall the raw numbers are bracing: Through the first four weeks of the regular season there have been 38 roughing the passer calls in 63 games.

In there were 21 in the same number of games. Across locker rooms, defensive players are wrestling with the further tightening of the rules.

Impossible and, really, impractical. Most of the rules changes and adaptations over the last decade-plus have been presented as safety initiatives.


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In truth, every league decision in this area runs on three parallel tracks. First, actual player safety. Second, perceived player safety. And third, the business of football. As to the first and second, even the most cynical observer would agree that the changes of the last decade or so have made professional football safer. And that is good for business.

Something else is good for business: Offense is very good for business. Shootouts are very good for business. The body-weight emphasis has endangered a foundational football play: In the lore of the professional game, raging quarterback-hungry defenders are chilling and integral figures.

Lawrence Taylor is considered by many the best defensive player in history and by some, the best player, period first and foremost because of his game-changing ability to reach the QB on breathtaking rushes from the edge. This new emphasis on preserving QBs endangers all of that in the long- and short-term.

Pin the arms, take them to the ground.

NFL issues clarification on roughing the passer rule to 'ensure consistency'

This is how you separate the shoulder, this is how you break the clavicle. But the league would rather have Hayes out than have Derek Carr out. The players see it. For more than two decades the NFL has tweaked its rule book in ways that universally benefit the passing game in general and quarterbacks in particular: The league would rather lose a relatively faceless defensive lineman than a franchise quarterback. The result has been an early season of dizzying aerial success. On Sunday, the apotheosis of the most explosive passing week in NFL history Only once before, in October , had four quarterbacks ever exceeded that mark in a game week.

Troy Aikman led the league 25 years ago with Oh, and you want to hear real silly? Officials will eventually make fewer such calls—after 34 roughing calls in the first three weeks, there were only five this weekend, two of them questionable—but the rule adjustment is already baked into the game. And offensive players have already adapted. The same thing happened with defenseless receivers. Hasselbeck concurs, citing personal experience. So you just stopped throwing that ball. Then the league made the defenseless receiver rule, and that route was back in play again.

The football ecosystem is impossibly complex.

Has The NFL Gone Too Far With Its New Roughing The Passer Rules?

Its dangers have never been more apparent, yet it remains the most popular spectator sport in America, by a significant margin. Participation numbers are declining everywhere, even as the keepers of the sport at all levels have made changes to try to stop the bleeding.

No one knows for sure. Big hits are bad business. Touchdowns and healthy quarterbacks are good business. The eye of the needle grows smaller, and societal pressure to protect the performers while also protecting the bottom line grows more urgent. This is the new football. These rules are written to make it more unlikely that quarterbacks suffer serious injuries.

The reason that the league is enforcing this particular rule now seems to stem directly from Packers QB Aaron Rodgers breaking his collarbone last year after Anthony Barr fell on top of him. Long as the QB is safe. In just three weeks, the No Falling Allowed Rule has become despised and widely mocked. By all appearances, Bryant had caught a pass at the one-yard line, but the call on the field was reversed and it was ruled an incompletion. After numerous other examples of clear-cut catches being reversed for utterly confounding reasons, the league finally unanimously voted to simplify the rule back in March.

They defeated the Raiders and eventually made their way to the Super Bowl, which they won. The Tuck Rule Game has been credited with starting the Patriots Dynasty and for many NFL fans that is reason enough to declare the rule the worst in league history. In any case, the Tuck Rule was repealed in The Patriots abstained from voting. Order by newest oldest recommendations.