In a video sent by the NFL’s officiating office to all 32 NFL clubs Wednesday, Perry Fewell, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating administration, defended Monday’s controversial roughing the passer call on Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones. A source who received the video sent it to The Athletic. The video showed a replay of Jones strip-sacking Raiders quarterback Derek Carr while Fewell narrated.
“The Kansas City defender executes his rush plan in his effort to sack the quarterback,” Fewell said in the video. “He lands with his full body weight on the drive to the ground. A quarterback in the pocket, in a passing posture, gets full protection until he can defend himself. This was a properly called foul for roughing the passer.”
In the video, Fewell did not mention the fact that the ball was loose when Jones swatted it out of Carr’s hand, or that Jones can be seen using his left hand to brace himself as he goes to the ground. Jones told reporters that everything happened so fast in the moment, but he tried to brace himself on the way down.
“I’m not saying the ref is wrong, but I’m just saying those situations can affect the game tremendously,” Jones said. “Especially, in the playoffs, a critical situation like that, a game-changing play, it can affect the whole (expletive) game.
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