Following the Atlanta Falcons' 21-15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, Grady Jarrett declined to speak on the controversial roughing-the-passer penalty called after he slung Tom Brady to the ground.
The defensive tackle finally shared his thoughts Tuesday on The Grady Jarrett Show on 680-AM The Fan in Atlanta.
"I'm not saying that it cost us the game, but it cost us an opportunity to go win the game," Jarrett said via the team's official website. "If it's costing people games, it's going to cost people's livelihoods, it's costing people opportunity. You never know who will go down and make a crazy play. When people watch it to be entertained, they love to see some game-winning drives, and then when you do it the right way, that's what makes it so frustrating because you did follow the rules.
"And you didn't do anything bad, so let's get the game what the game is owed, and that's the best product we can put on the field. That's the thing that really drives you just a little crazy. 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."
Roughing calls have been a hot topic after the flag on Jarrett and another on Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones against Raiders quarterback Derek Carr Monday night in prime time.
"When you do it right, I don't believe you should be punished for it," Jarret said. "It's not just the player, it's the team, it's the city, and it's everything for everyone involved. It's highly highly emotional and we just don't want it to go down like that. Hopefully something can come from this and a change can happen but at the end of the day, I would hope that some conversation would be had."
Per NFL Research, there have been 27 flags for roughing the passer though five weeks, with 25 accepted. In 2021, there were 51 called and 48 accepted through Week 5. The numbers might be down, but the two controversial flags this weekend have roughing calls under the microscope heading into Week 6.
