Tony Dungy
© Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
NFL officials have faced a lot of scrutiny this season, some of it from a surprising source.
Former Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy seems to have appointed himself the unofficial referee auditor in 2022. Dungy has taken to Twitter seemingly every week to point out officiating inconsistencies or call for rule changes.
He did so again on Monday.
Dungy asked why San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw was ejected for his helmet-to-helmet hit of Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, while Jacksonville Jaguars safety Andre Cisco was not penalized for a similar hit on Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
“How can Dre Greenlaw’s hit on Herbert be a penalty & EJECTION and Andre Cisco’s hit on Smith-Schuster not even be a penalty?” Dungy wrote. “By definition Herbert was a runner and not defenseless. JuJu catching the ball is a ‘defenseless player.’ I don’t understand.”
Both calls — or lack thereof, in Cisco’s case — generated quite a bit of conversation on Sunday.
Cisco’s hit resulted in Smith-Schuster missing the remainder of Sunday’s game and being placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
One official initially threw a penalty flag on the play, but it was eventually waved off. Referee Brad Rogers said after the game that Cisco “had set and braced for impact and hit shoulder-to-shoulder.”
Later in the game, Cisco laid another big hit on fellow Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Once again, the play did not draw a penalty.
Greenlaw’s hit on Herbert, meanwhile, came when Herbert had tucked the ball and ran past the line of scrimmage. As Dungy pointed out, the fact that he was a ball-carrier means he should actually receive less protection than Smith-Schuster, a defenseless player going up for a catch.
Herbert lowered his shoulder into 49ers defensive back Jimmie Ward, then deflected into Greenlaw, who connected with Herbert’s helmet, causing his head to snap backward. Herbert was removed from the game and checked for a concussion as a result, but ultimately returned.
Color commentator Cris Collinsworth and NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay both agreed that Greenlaw’s hit, while it looked violent, should not have prompted an ejection.
“For disqualification, you want to see a player doing something unnecessary, some attempt to punish the opponent,” McAulay said on the Sunday Night Football broadcast. “I feel he’s trying to lead with his shoulder — the changing elevation of the runner being tackled led to the forced contact to the head.”
The contrast between how Smith-Schuster and Herbert were protected continues a controversial trend in the NFL this season of the league seemingly going too far to protect quarterbacks. A slew of questionable roughing the passer penalties caused a firestorm earlier this season and prompted the NFL to release a statement saying it would not alter its rules on how it protects quarterbacks.
Most around the league are simply asking for consistency. Perhaps the involvement of Dungy, one of the most respected voices in pro football, will be enough to spur change from the NFL.
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