Roughing the Passer







Andrew Anderson

I grew up loving to hit things, my dad put me in football and that’s when I began to love to hit the quarterback. There is ways roughing the passer can be enforced and distinguished. The refs play a huge role in how and when roughing the passer is called. There are many ways you can enforce and distinguish roughing the passer.

Roughing the passer is a big problem in the NFL right now. According to bleacherreport.com Roger Goodel, the NFL commissioner, wants to ban the three point stance so that it diminishes the contact on the line. The NFL is getting way out of hand with these ridiculous calls. Enforcing roughing the passer should only be called on the low hits, and helmet to helmet hits. I can understand why refs call these and I agree with these calls. This penalty should be enforced when defenders hit the star quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre. If refs don’t call this penalty against defenders the quarterbacks will get hurt, and team attendance will probably go down if the star quarterback of their team goes down. Although some calls should be enforced many should be excluded.

Many NFL players around the league have been furious with refs over the past couple of years because of terrible calls. According to Troy Polamalu, “football just loses so much of its essence when it becomes like a pansies game.” Comments like this show you that the game is getting to out of hand when it becomes to roughing the passer. Joe Flacco the quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens said “if I get hit I get hit its football”. When refs call a graze of a helmet roughing the passer, that’s ridiculous I mean come on they’re not going to get hurt with a graze. Refs have a hard time making judgment calls but they should really try harder.

Refs sometimes make good calls and they sometimes make some bad calls. If a ref makes a bad call that could cost a team a game, isn’t that kind of unfair. Alright listen to this, one game Tom Brady got hit and said he didn’t care that hit and the defensive player got flagged for the hit. Refs should not be able to make emotional roughing the passer calls that’s bogus. Refs make good calls and bad calls that can affect every game.

Roughing the passer could be enforced, distinguished in the NFL, how refs play a big role in the game. I love hitting the quarterback, and when refs make terrible calls it effects everyone including me. Fans and players would be happy if roughing the passer would be eliminated.