The record number of roughing the passer penalties called so far this year has struck confusion and anger into pass rushers and defensive coordinators alike.
How are coaches supposed to teach their players to sack quarterbacks when referees are becoming increasingly loose in determining what an illegal hit is? Even more troubling, give the new emphases, how will the referees judge whether a quarterback is flopping or exaggerating to earn a flag?
After Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisbergeradmitted that he sold a roughing penalty called on Buccaneers defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul on Monday night, a division rival warned about letting Neymarian antics, such as Big Ben's, fly.
"Let's not turn this into the NBA flop fest," Ravens defensive coordinator Don Martindale said Thursday, per ESPN. "Because now the quarterbacks are making a mockery of it to the officials and the league. Now, you're insulting the officials and the league if you do that."
The Ravens have only been penalized for roughing the passer once so far this season. In total, there have been 34 roughing the passer penalties through three weeks of action.
How have the Ravens stayed so relatively clean? Let "Wink" explain.
"If you will, it's a rodeo stop-drop-and-roll tackle," Martindale said. "I'm just trying to give you words to describe it, but that's what it ends up looking like, and everybody tries to do that. You can see on our tape, that's what we're trying to do. I know that's the hot topic right now, and nobody really cares what I think about it. I mean, really, come on."
The NFL Competition Committee determined Wednesday that no changes would be made to the point of emphasis, which was approved during the league's annual meeting in the spring, or the roughing the passer rule, which has included the body weight provision since 1995. However, the committee concluded that there needs to be consistency among officiating crews.
