Pittsburgh Steelers defensive star, Cam Heyward has joined the crowd. Like others, he's not happy with the recent officiating over the weekend. Specifically, a few roughing the passer calls were heavily criticized on Sunday and into the Monday night game.
Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen escapes the pressure of Cam Heyward in Week 15 in 2019. (AP Photo/Don Wright)
First, Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman, Grady Jarrett was called for roughing the passer on Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, Tom Brady. Even NFL rules expert, Dean Blandino of Fox Sports wasn't too happy with the call. Brady proceeded to try and trip Jarrett before eventually arguing to the refs for a call. He got it, much to the dismay of Falcons fans, coaches, and players.
Then, there was Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs who was called for one of the softer penalties in recent memory on Monday Night Football. Despite Las Vegas Raiders quarterback, Derek Carr, still having the ball in his hands, Jones was called for a roughing the passer, bringing up some NFL Madden vibes. The hit wasn't much of anything, but was called anyway.
Heyward, who continues to star for the Steelers, addressed these calls on the most recent episode of his podcast, Not Just Football. He spoke about both calls, even providing a perfect analogy in the process:
"As a defensive lineman, a friend of Grady, man that hurts to get a sack taken away from you. I compared it to when a mom wants to lay her baby on the ground or in their bassinet, that's all Grady did," Heyward said on his podcast. "He turned him over and laid him down. It's unbelievable what our game is coming to. Right now, it feels like every situation, there's no way to win."
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Roughing the passer calls have become the most controversial topic in football over the last few years, along with pass interference ones as well. Over the years, quarterbacks have gained more and more protection from the referees with these type of calls. To an extent, one can understand why. The calls are meant to limit the violence in the game as much as possible, lessening the likelihood for concussions and even CTE.
Now though, the league seems to just be protecting the quarterbacks too much. These are game-changing calls too, as the flag on Jarrett all but ended the Falcons' chances at a comeback. The call was made on third down, which would have given the ball back to the Falcons with a chance to win the game. Imagine if this were to happen in a Steelers game. The league could make these calls reviewable, but we saw what happened with that a few years back.
NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell helped implement pass interference calls to be reviewable and well, it was a disaster. That lasted just one year in the NFL, and there's no reason to think it would go any better with roughing the passer calls. ESPN's database shows these calls are indeed being called less, as there have been just 29 of them through Week 5. In comparison, there were 54 roughing the passer calls at the same time last season. Simply put, the referees just have to be better when the calls are made.
Credit: A.J. Mast/The New York Times
Do you agree with Heyward's comments here regarding the calls? Should the referees face more punishment? What would you have done if this happened to the Steelers? Share your thoughts in the comment section below, as well as on our social media sites!
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