Pereira on Roughing-the-Passer Controversy: “This Is Not Where We Should Be”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: To listen to Mike Pereira, click on the following link: Ep 126: State Of NFL Officiating With Mike Pereira (spreaker.com))

Matt Rhule might object, but nobody in the NFL has had a tougher week than its officials. They’re under siege for doing what the league wanted them to do for years – namely, protect the quarterback.

But not like this.

In three Week 5 games, there were egregious calls, all for the same penalty – roughing the passer. There was a hit (no, more like a push to the chest) of Cleveland’s Jacoby Brissett, a sack of Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady that was overturned, and a strip-sack of the Raiders’ Derek Carr that was also overturned.

In each instance, players, coaches, fans, media, you name it, were infuriated … but to no avail. The calls stood, and angry onlookers wondered not only how we got here but how we get out. Good question. So we consulted FOX rules analyst Mike Pereira, formerly vice president of officiating in the NFL and the head of officiating in this year’s USFL.

“The rules,” he said on the latest “Eye Test for Two” podcast, “have to somewhat reflect common sense. And if this is where we’re going now, then this is not where we should be.

“I mean, we can’t keep layers from making normal plays — and this play that we had Monday night (Chris Jones’ strip-sack of Carr) had all the elements of … the elements that aren’t usually there. The ball came loose. Jones has the ball in his right arm. How is he supposed to roll off if he’s trying to control a loose ball? It’s just not good at this moment.”

He gets no argument there. But why is it happening? In one weekend, there were three botched calls. A week earlier, there was another with two minutes left in the Buffalo-Baltimore game when the Bills’ Josh Allen was hit after launching an incomplete pass. Allen threw up his hands and asked for a flag.

He got it.

So why do we have a sudden rash of controversial calls, all involving the same penalty? The popular response: Tua. Some persons believe it’s a reaction … OK, an overreaction … to the Tua Tagovailoa situation, where the Miami quarterback suffered head injuries in successive games.

Pereira is not of them.

“I would argue that point,” he said, “and say: Where does that come from? Did they (officials) get direction? I see videos that they (the NFL) put out. They share them with us because they want to keep us educated as to what they’re talking about to their officials. And there was nothing. Not a mention of Tua. So are officials reacting to what is read in the paper? I kinda find that hard to believe, too.

“Obviously, they’re going to look at this quite closely. The danger, to me, is if they look at the hit on Brady and look at the hit on Brissett … and if they look at the hit on Carr … and they say those are correct; say those are the right calls. Then we’re really treading into a dangerous area. Because then you’re actually inviting more like that to be called.”

Pereira doesn’t believe the league needs to clarify or redefine what constitutes roughing the passer. Instead, he said, he’d like to see someone from the league office step forward and admit what everyone already knows: The calls were mistakes.

“You only gain the public’s trust,” he said, “when you actually say, ‘Yep, we shouldn’t have made that call.’ Look, you can’t go back and change the call. They tell the clubs that. So get it over with. The minute you do it and say it, it ends.”