Getty Chiefs DT Chris Jones reacts against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
Welcome to Heavy In The Trenches, a weekly Wednesday column by Heavy NFL insider Matt Lombardo, bringing you insight on the latest storylines and rumblings around the league. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL.
The NFL has a crisis of integrity on its hands, after two of the more egregious roughing the passer penalties in recent memory were called during Week 5.
Two games with the outcome hanging in the balance — Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs — were impacted by two controversial roughing the passer penalties in pivotal moments.
There is certainly something to be said for the specter of Tua Tagovailoa’s terrifying injury in Week 4 in Cincinnati and the questionable handling of the Dolphins’ quarterback being cleared to play four days after suffering what appeared to be a concussion the prior Sunday hanging over this week’s games. And the referees calling them.
“It’s obvious the league is doing everything it can to protect quarterbacks after the Tua situation,” a current NFL defensive line coach told Heavy. “Here’s the problem, there’s no real consistency in the way each crew is calling it, so we’re having to change our entire approach as far as what we are telling our players.”
The officials’ inability to separate Tagovailoa’s situation from what took place in front of them when Falcons edge rusher Grady Jarrett sacked Tom Brady with 3:02 remaining in a 7-point game but was flagged for unnecessary roughness, and Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones being called for the same penalty after strip-sacking Derek Carr in the waning moments of the first half Monday night, raise questions about the integrity and competency of the officials in the biggest moments of games.
Jones legitimately swiped the ball right out of Carr’s hands, his momentum took him to the ground.
The two phantom calls are a hot-button issue among defensive linemen across the league.
“It makes our job even tougher and it’s already hard enough it is to get to these quarterbacks and get them down,” a current NFL defensive end told Heavy. “I really hope they figure this out, because they pay quarterbacks enough to get fixed if something breaks from a big defensive lineman hitting them.
“I agree with protecting [quarterbacks], to an extent, I’m all for it. But I didn’t agree with either of those two plays.”
The NFL needs to figure this out.
Whether it is dedicating time during the Fall Meeting in New York City on October 18-19, or an emergency meeting with the competition committee before then, the league can ill afford for weeks and weeks of games to be played with the ambiguity in the rules that allowed these calls to be made in the first place. Especially after reaching an agreement with the NFLPA on revised concussion protocols in the wake of Tagovailoa’s injuries.
It’s a slippery slope from questioning officials and calls to the integrity of games, and the NFL seems on the precipice of the latter, at least among some fans after this week’s debacles.
Power Rankings
1. Philadelphia Eagles (5-0)
2. Buffalo Bills (4-1)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)
4. Baltimore Ravens (3-2)
5. San Francisco 49ers (3-2)
6. Minnesota Vikings (4-1)
7. Dallas Cowboys (4-1)
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2)
9. Cincinnati Bengals (2-3)
10. New York Giants (4-1)
Matt Lombardo Show Podcast
Quote of the Week
“Quarterback” — Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera on what’s separating the rest of the NFC East from his team
Rivera tried to walk back his comments, but the damage was done.
The Commanders head coach, by singling out Carson Wentz as a reason the Commanders are the NFC East cellar-dwellers behind Jalen Hurts’ Philadelphia Eagles, Cooper Rush’s Dallas Cowboys, and Daniel Jones’ New York Giants, essentially drove a metaphorical bus over his quarterback and then threw it in reverse.
In a lot of ways, Rivera’s assessment was refreshing, too.
Wentz has been brutal after the Commanders traded three draft picks to acquire him from the Colts on March 16, 2022.
Through the Commanders’ first five games, Wentz has passed for 1,390 yards with 10 touchdowns to 6 interceptions, and been sacked 20 times — or on 8.7% of his drop-backs.
Dating back to Week 8 of the 2021 season in Indianapolis, Wentz has averaged a meager 6.4 yards per attempt, with 26 touchdowns to 12 interceptions and has been sacked 37 times.
Not great.
Part of the problem with Wentz that has followed him from his career in Philadelphia, after being chosen by the Eagles with the No. 2 overall pick in 2016, has been that he has always responded best and played his best when coached hard, yet is reticent to receiving it, multiple sources have pointed out.
If Wentz’s struggles continue, it doesn’t sound like Rivera would be all that hesitant to give fifth-round pick Sam Howell a look. It may be exactly what the Commanders need if the quarterback is truly holding Washington back.
Final Thought
During one of the most poorly played quarterback games in recent NFL history, we all bore witness to a pair of cautionary tales in Week 5.
On the national stage of Thursday Night Football, Russell Wilson’s and Matt Ryan’s epic struggles — combining to complete just 58% of their passes for 525 yards with 4 interceptions — brought to the fore the pitfalls of organizations trying to fast-track rebuilds around fading veteran quarterbacks.
The NFL is certainly a copycat league, and yes, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped Tom Brady into a ready-made championship roster and were rewarded with the franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy. So, too, did the Los Angeles Rams bring the title to Tinsletown after trading for a still-in-his-prime Matthew Stafford.
However, the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl-winning roster featured elite weapons like receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, a veteran offensive line, disruptive playmakers on defense at all three levels, and one of the league’s most dominant secondaries that season. Similarly, Aaron Donald may be the best player in football, the Rams already had All-Pro wide receiver Cooper Kupp, eventually added Odell Beckham Jr., and boast one of the top cornerbacks in the game, Jalen Ramsey.
The Broncos and Colts, the Buccaneers and Rams are not.
It is absolutely true that there are multiple ways to win a Super Bowl; dating back to 2010 Aaron Rodgers, Eli Manning, Joe Flacco, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Nick Foles, and Patrick Mahomes won 9 of the past 12 Lombardis as homegrown talents, with Brady, Stafford and Manning winning three after being traded.
But, general manager George Paton’s fool-hearted belief that Denver was a quarterback away — and that Wilson at age 33 could be that quarterback to return the Lombardi to Mile High, has to date seems to have buried the Broncos.
That’s not the least of the damage done by trading for Wilson.
The price Paton paid the Seattle Seahawks all but torpedoes the organization’s chances to build around Wilson.
If you’ll recall, the Broncos traded away first-round picks in 2022 and 2023, a second-round pick in 2022 and 2023, along with starting caliber players quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, and defensive tackle Shelby Harris.
Meanwhile, Wilson currently ranks 13th in yards per attempt, 14th in passing yards, and has tossed just 4 touchdowns to 3 interceptions.
“I really don’t know what happened to him,” an AFC scouting director told Heavy, when asked to identify Wilson’s biggest issue at the moment. “But, I do know he looks lost. He doesn’t look like a veteran quarterback right now. At all.”
Compounding the Broncos’ comedy of errors in trading for Wilson, Denver also handed the veteran quarterback $166 million fully guaranteed over the life of a new extension that runs through 2028. Without seeing Wilson throw a single pass in new head coach Nathanial Hackett’s scheme. And, when Wilson was already signed through the 2024 season.
Without a first or second-round pick until the 2024 draft, it will be extremely difficult for the Broncos to build around Wilson.
In a division that will feature Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and Derek Carr — average age 27, for upwards of a decade, leading teams with supporting casts vastly more complete than Denver’s, if Wilson doesn’t find the fountain of youth and receivers Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, and K.J. Hamler emerge as the top at their position, it’s hard to imagine the trade keeping Denver competitive long-term.
Paton put the Broncos into limbo with the price he paid, and Wilson has done little so far to justify any optimism he can return to form.
Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Ryan looks shakier than ever in the pocket, has missed throws and open receivers badly, and amid the Colts’ 2-2-1 start, Ryan’s 7.1 yards per attempt ranks 17th, and his 35.7 QBR puts him 27th in the league.
Granted, the Colts only traded a 2022 third-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for Ryan. And, Indianapolis’ commitment only runs through the 2023 campaign, but through five weeks the veteran quarterback has looked like a prime reason for the Colts’ struggles rather than a reason to hope Indy can turn it around.
The Ryan trade isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of general manager Chris Ballard, who has now overseen just one postseason win since his arrival in 2017, and now failed disastrously attempting to trade for a veteran quarterback; first Carson Wentz and now Ryan.
In an era where windows for coaches and general managers to win is narrower than ever, the Broncos and Colts’ desperation isn’t surprising.
But, Wilson’s and Ryan’s struggles should give any general manager pause in coming years if they even entertain the thought of mortgaging the future for a chance to try to win immediately with a past his prime veteran quarterback.
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