Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett executed a perfectly legal sack of Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady on Sunday. Nonetheless, the officiating crew threw a flag and penalized the Falcons 15 yards for roughing the passer.
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Referee Jerome Boger should be penalized himself for calling Jarrett’s textbook tackle roughing the passer. The clear guidance from the NFL is to protect Tom Brady at all costs. There is simply no other explanation for this laughable yet enraging miscarriage of football justice. Though, it was suggested by at least one Twitter user that the roughing call was a make-up effort by the officials after missing a defensive pass interference call on the previous play.
Guess what? That doesn’t make it any less terrible or make the situation any better at all.
Officiate the game the way it is supposed to be officiated. If you miss a call, you miss a call. It is absolutely not okay to circle back and do something ridiculous on the following play to make up for not doing your job.
After the game, Boger told reporters that he felt Jarrett guilty of “unnecessarily” throwing Brady to the ground.
Last time I checked, tackling your opponent to the ground was not only a necessary but vital part of the game. But who knows anymore? The ratings are so high, and people are making so much money that the NFL can turn out a crap product (which they have all season long), and people will eat it up.
So, don’t expect any meaningful action against Boger or correction here.
The chief result of the play was that the Bucs got a new set of downs. They used those plays to get another first down and run out the clock. Thus securing a win against an Atlanta team that should have at least possessed the ball one more time before losing.