How Rough Can We Get?

This past week, the NFL, took major criticisms for an already controversial call: roughing the passer. Fans quickly took to social media after several of these calls to voice their concerns about where the NFL is headed in terms of the amount of contact that is legal. With player safety always being a priority, the NFL constantly amends their rules to make sure that they can limit the number of collisions that a player encounters. However, these rules are almost always met with scrutiny over how "soft" the league is becoming. Football is inherently a physical sport with injuries being an unfortunate consequence. So, the question becomes, how rough is too rough? 

Roughing the Passer

Roughing the passer refers to a penalty when a defender unnecessarily hits the quarterback after or during the process of throwing the football. The intent of this rule is clear, to protect the quarterback of injury. However, recent calls of this penalty have shown that there is some grey area over what constitutes as unnecessary.

Below is a video demonstrating two of the roughing the passer calls I was referring to in the opening paragraph. Another was during the Chiefs game, which was equally as bad of a call as the two in the video.

Any average viewer of football would tell you that those hits should be deemed "legal". However, the rule clearly states that any hit to the head, any unnecessary contact, or placing of full body weight onto the quarterback qualifies as roughing the passer. Each of these calls were confirmed by head officials.

Where Do We Draw the Line?

Yet, though those are the rules, there are what would be considered worse hits that occur to the quarterback all the time that don't constitute roughing the passer. Take a look at the video below.

This hit on Patrick Mahomes was not deemed roughing the passer. However, does it really seem that different than the ones before? This is what is causing all the controversy surrounding this call. How can hits like this one on Mahomes not be roughing the passer but the one's above on Tom Brady and Jared Goff are? Football is a contact sport, and the quarterback is going to get hit. Yet, how do they determine which hit is too rough? 

Will Football Become "Too Rough?"

As mentioned, the roughing the passer penalty is one of the many rule changes the NFL has made to maintain player safety. Other examples are targeting penalties which help to limit the head-to-head contact that many players face. However, many fans are questioning whether or not the NFL is starting to take these rules too far. They fear that soon, football will no longer be a contact sport and will have to become 7-on-7 or potentially flag football.

Though, one of the enticing aspects of football is the fact that it is a high-collision sport. It makes the game exciting for fans. Yet, it is also important that the players are safe in participating in that sport. Being able to prioritize player safety while maintaining the essence of the sport is something the NFL has to handle moving forward. As of now, the NFL is looking to review its current model of the roughing the passer penalty to see if any changes are needed to be made.