Chiefs baffled by roughing the passer penalty on Chris Jones

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Referee Carl Cheffers stated he adopted the roughing-the-passer rule when he penalized Chiefs defensive deal with Chris Jones late within the first half of Kansas Metropolis’s come-from-behind 30-29 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night time.

The Chiefs had simply scored to trim their deficit to 17-7 when Jones stripped Raiders quarterback Derek Carr from behind simply earlier than halftime. Jones landed on Carr whereas additionally developing with the ball — replays confirmed it was clearly free and that Jones cleanly recovered — however Cheffers threw a flag for roughing the passer.

Cheffers, in a pool report following the sport, defined that he noticed Jones land on Carr together with his full physique weight whereas the quarterback was within the pocket

Cheffers stated that Carr “will get full safety of all features of what we give the quarterback in a passing posture. So when he was tackled, my ruling was the defender landed on him with full physique weight. The quarterback is protected against being tackled with full physique weight.”

Cheffers stated the actual fact Jones took the ball away from Carr was irrelevant.

“(Carr) will get passing safety till he can defend himself,” Cheffers stated. “Simply as if he had thrown the ball, he nonetheless will get safety. … That extends till he is now not in command of the ball.”

The Chiefs have been irate on the penalty, which occurred with lower than two minutes to go within the half and was not reviewed.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid stormed off the sideline to argue. And after the groups traded subject objectives within the closing minutes, leaving the Raiders forward 20-10, Reid cornered Cheffers once more because the groups headed to the locker room.

“I acquired it off my chest,” Reid stated. “I stated what I wanted to say.”

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes stated he is seen Reid angrier — however not about an official’s name.

Jones stated after the sport he braced himself with the arm not holding the ball so he would not land on Carr together with his full physique weight.

“How ought to I deal with folks?” he stated. “How ought to I not roll on him? I am attempting my finest. I am 325 kilos, OK? What would you like me to do? I am going full pace attempting to get the quarterback.”

He referenced a roughing penalty on Atlanta Falcons defensive deal with Grady Jarrett the day earlier than, for a seemingly innocuous deal with of Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady. The penalty gave the Buccaneers a primary down and allowed them to expire the clock on a 21-15 victory, quite than giving the Falcons an opportunity to drive for the win.

“They’ve put such an emphasis on roughing the passer penalties that we have to have the ability to evaluate it within the sales space,” Jones stated. “That is the subsequent step … Generally seems to be will be deceiving. Now it is getting absurd. Now it is costing groups video games.

“I truly stripped the ball and gravity form of took me to the bottom. That is a roughing the passer name at a vital state of affairs within the recreation. It is third down and we’re down 10 factors … A variety of these roughing the passer calls can be referred to as again (after video evaluate).”

Mahomes stated the penalty on Jones “wasn’t the best name on the planet,” however added he understood the referee’s dilemma.

“You need to defend the gamers and the whole lot like that in all features of the sport, however on the identical time there comes a typical sense issue the place guys try to play soccer and attempting to win soccer video games,” Mahomes stated. “At any time when it is blatant and so they do one thing soiled to attempt to damage somebody, you need to be sure that’s referred to as, however on the identical time you do not need it to have an effect on the soccer recreation and alter the result.”

The Related Press contributed to this report.