The Detroit Lions were once again screwed by NFL officials this afternoon with perhaps the most bizarre roughing the passer penalty that any of us have seen called in a professional game.
A sack on Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins on a 4th and one by safety Tracy Walker was flagged by official Adrian Hill, leading to a fresh set of downs that Minnesota would soon convert on.
Afterwards, referee Adrian Hill offered a pat explanation for the call that certainly won’t satisfy Lions fans.
“By rule, one of the categories for roughing the passer is full body weight, where the tackler lands with his full body weight on the quarterback,” Hill said. “That’s the category this play fell into.”
Oh, okay then.
Question: It kind of looked like the defender grabbed the quarterback and his momentum rolled him off, but is that not what you saw?
Hill: “The momentum doesn’t play a role and the rolling off afterwards does not play a role. It’s that initial contact to the ground. If you roll off afterwards, that doesn’t eliminate the foul.”
Question: What could the defender have done differently?
Hill: “A lot of the techniques that defensive coaches are teaching include kind of a barrel roll, where you grab the player to the side and you take him down to your side and roll, rather than coming down with your full body weight.”
Question: So it was a clear-cut penalty to you?
Hill: “Yes, it was. The initial force was full body weight.”
The Lions and their fans will have to wait until next season to get some kind of make-up call.
