NFL refs shredded for roughing the passer call late in Bucs-Falcons game
By Andrew Olson
Published:
NFL officials made a controversial roughing the passer call at a key moment in Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Trailing 21-15, the Falcons appeared to be getting the ball back with under 3 minutes to go. Grady Jarrett’s 3rd-down sack of Tom Brady, however, was called roughing the passer. Instead of having to punt back to Atlanta, Tampa Bay was granted a first down.
Falcons down by 6 late 4th, about to get the ball back after a sack on 3rd down…and THIS is called roughing the passer for a first down pic.twitter.com/jEurUn9WcV
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) October 9, 2022
The social media reaction to the call is strongly critical, even by those who are not Falcons fans. Here’s a small sample of tweets about the call:
This may be the WORST roughing the passer penalty I’ve ever seen. Embarrassingly bad call. The Falcons got screwed.
(?: @TrainIsland)pic.twitter.com/KdvC0mi2KJ
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 9, 2022
ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!!! ??? pic.twitter.com/u74YZp8wFf
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 9, 2022
This was called roughing the passer ?
pic.twitter.com/EfhGmOM4Yw— PFF (@PFF) October 9, 2022
Atlanta called for roughing Tom Brady with the game on the line. An impossibly bad call. Galling.
— Steve Greenberg (@SLGreenberg) October 9, 2022
This is absolute bullshit with this call against Grady bruh!!! No damn way
— Marcus Spears (@mspears96) October 9, 2022
That’s horrible!!! Grady Jarrett got called for a penalty for sacking Brady. That is a disgraceful call.
— Matt Chernoff (@RealMattlanta) October 9, 2022
Grady Jarrett gets what appears to be a drive-ending sack against Tom Brady but is flagged for a roughing the passer call that puts Tampa Bay at Atlanta's 33-yard line.
— Josh Kendall (@JoshTheAthletic) October 9, 2022
Jerome Boger the referee in the Bucs gm. Just made the worst call of this early NFL season. NFL will need to offer an explanation on this BULLJIVE call. That was a text book sack and it was penalized. Falcons got hosed
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) October 9, 2022
i wonder if this would have been called roughing the passer on anyone else pic.twitter.com/wFBkWjygUt
— SB Nation (@SBNation) October 9, 2022
https://twitter.com/brandonsudge/status/1579200903017824257
not even a Falcons fan and I'm about to go full Ayesha Curry on that Grady Jarrett call
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) October 9, 2022
The Bucs were able to run out the clock, preserving the 21-15 victory.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
