Report: NFL Won't Scale Back Enforcement of Roughing the Passer Despite Controversy

Despite a number of extremely questionable and controversial roughing the passer penalties during Week 5 of the NFL season, don't expect any major adjustments to the rule.

As a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter: "There is no backing down on enforcing rules that are in place to protect the health and safety of players, including quarterbacks, who by rule are considered defenseless players when they are in a passing posture."

While the NFL may not make any changes during the season, ESPN's Ed Werder reported on Tuesday that a member of the league's competition committee said it would discuss the rule following the 2022 campaign.

A second committee member said that allowing roughing the passer calls to be reviewable might be a step in the right direction, though it's unclear if the NFL would be happy with such a solution.

"Well, the hard part is that because we have no real standard for what roughing the passer looks like, we will always get a wide range of what a referee decides is and isn't a foul," the person told Werner. "The only way to correct that is to have a 'review process' for personal fouls. We may even have to do that for OPI (offensive pass interference) and DPI. These are huge fouls that impact and can change the game when the foul is or isn't called. I don't know if the powers that be would want that 'review process' for personal fouls or not, though."

On Sunday, Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Grady Jarrett was called for a roughing the passer call after sacking Tom Brady and tackling him in a routine manner. The foul, after Atlanta had appeared to stop Tampa Bay on a crucial third down late in the game, instead gave the Buccaneers second life on the drive, allowing them to kill the clock in a 21-15 win.

Then on Monday night, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was called for roughing the passer after sacking Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and stripping the ball from him, all in one motion. Referee Carl Cheffers claimed after the game that Jones had landed on Carr with his full body weight.

"The quarterback is in the pocket and he's in a passing posture. He gets full protection of all the aspects of what we give the quarterback in a passing posture," he told a pool reporter. "My ruling was the defender landed on him with full body weight. The quarterback is protected from being tackled with full body weight."

NFL Twitter, meanwhile, couldn't believe either call was made:

Consider Jones an advocate for allowing such plays to be reviewed.

"They have put such an emphasis on roughing the passer penalties that we've got to be able to review it in the booth," he told reporters after Monday night's game. "That's the next step. ... Sometimes looks can be deceiving. Now it's getting absurd. Now it's costing teams games.

Jarrett offered a similar sentiment on Sunday.

"In full speed, it may look more malicious than it really is because the refs are human, as well, so let's just take a little bit off the plate and be able to review something like that just for the defensive sake so we can get something," he said.