NFL Fans Blast Refs Over Brutal Roughing-the-Passer Call on Denver’s Baron Browning

Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson was knocked out of action on Sunday against the Broncos after a huge hit delivered by Denver defender Baron Browning.

With Cleveland pinned back against its own end zone, Thompson-Robinson scrambled outside the pocket with hopes of making a play. Just as he got the ball out of his hands, Browning met him with an absolutely brutal hit, putting his shoulder right in the numbers of the Cleveland QB.

The ball fell incomplete and the Browns should have been facing fourth-and-12, but a roughing the passer penalty was called on the hit, giving Cleveland a fresh set of downs.

Thompson-Robinson was taken out of the game and replaced by P.J. Walker.

While Browning's hit was a big one, it looked pretty legal in the eyes of many fans. Browning doesn't go for the head, or arrive way late after Thompson-Robinson had gotten the throw off.

Fans on social media shared their distaste for the penalty flag.

Still, there were others that argued that Browning absolutely deserved the penalty flag he received after the hit.

By the book, Thompson-Robinson is considered a defenseless player just after throwing a pass, and defenders cannot launch into a defenseless player.

Per the NFL rulebook:

"It is an illegal launch if a player (i) leaves both feet prior to contact to spring forward and upward into his opponent, and (ii) uses any part of his helmet to initiate forcible contact against any part of his opponent’s body."

Whether you agree or disagree with the ruling, the situation settled itself rather quickly, as the Browns fumbled the ball back to the Broncos just two plays later.