Getty Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady draws a penalty call against the Atlanta Falcons' Grady Jarrett during their Week 5 win.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ 21-15 victory over the Atlanta Falcons was overshadowed by a controversial call.
During the Buccaneers’ game-clinching drive at the end of their win over the Falcons, one of the most controversial penalties in recent play was called. As Tom Brady dropped back to throw on 3rd-and-5 with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter, the Falcons’ Grady Jarrett sacked the Buccaneers quarterback.
It appeared the Falcons would force a punt and have one final drive to win the game over the Buccaneers. However, the referees called a roughing the passer penalty, extending the drive and eventually resulting in a Tampa Bay win.
“What’s that thing you guys in the media do every week after the games?” the executive said to Peter King of NBC Sports. “Overreaction Monday? As a league, I think today was Overreaction Sunday.”
Former Patriots Exec Pioli Thrashes Brady Penalty
The anonymous longtime NFL executive wasn’t the only notable figure to rip the controversial penalty call on Brady. Former New England Patriots executive Scott Pioli — who played a role in New England drafting Brady back in 2000 — criticized the call on Twitter.
“I’ve seen a lot of #NFL football in my life, but someone is going to have to explain this roughing the passer call in the AtlantaFalcons/Buccaneers game,” says Pioli. “I’m not sure I’ve seen anything quite like this.”
Jerome Boger, the head of the officiating crew in Tampa, explained his controversial call to The Athletic’s Greg Auman following the game (via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero).
“What I had was the defender grabbed the quarterback while he was still in the pocket, and unnecessarily throwing him to the ground,” said Boger. “That is what I was making my decision based upon.”
Penalty May Be Reaction to Tagovailoa’s Injury
Former Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy also piled in on the reaction to the controversial call, saying that it was an overreaction to protecting the quarterbacks after the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa was injured due to a concussion on a similar play versus the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4.
Tagovailoa remains in the concussion protocol and is still sidelined following the play.
“The roughing the passer call on Atlanta’s Grady Jarrett Vs Bucs Tom Brady came at a key moment in 4th quarter,” the NBC Sports analyst said. “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.”
An example of the NFL’s changes since Tagovailoa’s injury is Dolphins quarterback Teddy Bridgewater being kept out during the team’s game versus the New York Jets after he was hit on the first snap of the game. He was sidelined due to the league’s new “ataxia” rule.
“The perceived stumble triggered the recently added “ataxia” clause in the league’s concussion protocol — a “no-go” symptom that requires players be taken to the locker room and prohibited from returning to the game under any circumstances,” explained Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.
Although Boger claims that his call had nothing with the Tagovailoa injury, it’s hard to defend the roughing-the-passer penalty called against Jarrett.
We’ll see if the NFL continues to hammer down on any quarterback hits with penalty calls moving forward.