Former Bucs' Head Coach Rips Roughing the Passer Call on Tom Brady
There has been an abundance of speculation in the NFL recently surrounding what is and what is not considered to be a roughing the passer penalty. The speculation has only grown since Miami Dolphins' quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, was thrown to the ground and suffered a concussion against the Bengals on Sept. 29th.
On Sunday vs. the Atlanta Falcons, Tom Brady was thrown to the ground in a similar fashion as Tua by Falcons' defensive lineman Grady Jarrett which resulted in a roughing the passer call. It was a pivotal moment in the game as the Falcons only trailed by 6 with 3 minutes remaining in the game. The Bucs had just moved into Falcons' territory and on third down Jarrett was able to record a sack that potentially could have moved the Bucs out of field goal range, giving Atlanta a shot at driving the field to win the game. However, Jarrett was flagged for roughing the passer ultimately securing a win for Tampa Bay.
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The penalty caused an uproar across the social media landscape as many fans, experts and analysts thought the penalty was egregious. Former Buccaneers' head coach, Tony Dungy, also had thoughts on the matter,
“The roughing the passer call on Atlanta’s Grady Jarrett Vs Bucs Tom Brady came at a key moment in the 4th quarter,” Dungy posted on Twitter. “It was a terrible call. They have to protect all players, including the QBs. But Jarrett did nothing wrong. I believe this call was an over reaction to Tua last week.”
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The Bucs were able to go on and win the game 21-15. The controversy over the roughing the passer call will continue throughout the season and was even seen in later games following Bucs/Falcons. It will be interesting to see if the league makes changes to the call this upcoming offseason.
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