Are quarterbacks allowed to be sacked?
NFL viewers are left again asking the question after Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips was flagged for a dubious, at best, roughing the passer penalty after sacking Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in the third quarter on "Sunday Night Football."
See if you can spot the penalty.
This was just called Roughing the passer.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 12, 2022
Just AWFUL. Embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/jt07ZDQdyh
MORE: Dolphins vs. Chargers live score, updates, highlights
The NBC booth was left without much of an explanation. Rules analyst Terry McAulay said the officials must have decided that Phillips put all of his weight on Herbert when he was bringing the quarterback to the ground, but he still disagreed with the penalty call.
Here's the rule to which McAulay was referring:
The defender is prohibited from landing on the QB with all or most of his body weight, even during a normal tackle.
MORE: Tyreek Hill scores bizarre touchdown against Chargers
The NBC booth said that as Phillips was falling to the ground with Herbert, it appeared he stretched his arms toward the ground to prevent himself from putting all his weight on the Chargers signal-caller.
Had the sack stood, the Chargers would have been faced with a fourth-and-19 from their 8. Instead, the 15-yard penalty gave Los Angeles a first down at its 33, though the Chargers would eventually be forced to punt.
This was just the latest questionable roughing the passer call this season, with Falcons lineman Grady Jarrett's sack of Buccaneers QB Tom Brady in Week 5 perhaps the most notable controversial one.
MORE: Tagovailoa vs. Herbert draft debate, revisited
"Sunday Night Football" viewers, including some big NFL names, understandably were confused about the ruling.
Absurd roughing the passer call.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 12, 2022
Absurd.
Roughing the passer…they gotta penalize refs for ridiculous flags like that some how..
— Dont'a Hightower (@zeus30hightower) December 12, 2022
Weak sauce roughing the passer. Very bad. Do not like.
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) December 12, 2022
WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST KINDA ROUGHING THE PASSER CALL WAS THAT?!?!
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 12, 2022
Roughing the passer???? Did he not lay him down gently enough???
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) December 12, 2022
Honestly…that’s one of the worst calls I have ever seen when it comes to roughing. That’s so bad.
— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) December 12, 2022
Terrible roughing (what's new). Used his arms to avoid placing his body weight on him.
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) December 12, 2022
What a dreadful roughing call. Terrible. Enough with this nonsense already. Review it.
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) December 12, 2022
That's the worst roughing the passer call in a long line of roughing the passers
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) December 12, 2022
