Roughing the passer

CFL Talk
1

I think that the roughing the passer rule needs to be rewritten.

As the rule is now the call against the riders was correct but seeing that we are playing football the ruling is a bad one. It need to take into account wether or the hit was deleberate or if it could have been avoided.

They were talking about it last night on TSN and it states that even if a player's feet has left the ground his must remain in control of his body. :shock:

We have to rewrite the laws of gravity before we can apply that rule.

2

That one on Jurineak was kind of light so maybe like fasemasking in the NFL have a light or unintentional hit be a 5 yard and hard and intentional be 15 and a first down.

3

That sounds good.

4

I agree, that last one was pretty weak. It's the right call, and Benefield should have kept his self in check, but still.

It's good they are trying to protect QBs, but there's a line you have to draw.

5

I agree. It could be like contacting, and roughing the kicker. (5 and 15 yards)

6

It's a rare occurence, so 15 yards seems right to me, unlike the 10 yards for a loud crowd! WTF!

7

It's only in the last couple of years that they've been so picky about it. It used to be if you took less than two steps after the throw you wouldn't get called for the hit. But I guess people complained that QBs were getting hurt too often, so they stepped up the protection.

It's still very much in the judgement of the referee whether or not a flag gets thrown. No matter what his decision, half the fans will say it was good and half will say it was stupid.

8

Dave
Your are right about only half of the people being happy.
I do believe that they have to protect the QB but to what end. Will it gone to the point that he doesn't even have to go down for it to be called.

9

If you look in the CFL guide, the majority of the "Rules Commitee" are the coaches. (9 of them) The QB's are the coaches bread and butter, and losing a starting QB and you lose games. Loose games, and the coaches are the first to be fired. I don't think you'll see the 9 coaches change the current rules as that would put their job security more at risk.

10

When a linebacker has a QB lined up tho and is running as fast as he can with one goal, to nail the QB and then all the sudden he sees him throw the ball and has to try and change his mindset and stop as fast as he can, that's hard. There should be about a 2 second rule or something for someone sprinting at the QB.

11

2 seconds?? no way man... that can be like 4 steps or more... that'd just be insane.

And Kanga.... there is no penalty in the books for a loud crowd... the only time the league had a rule like that it was back in the 80's and it only lasted a season.

12

I think it should not be so much as a tme limit but at to wether or not it could have been avoided

13

agreed.... which is pretty much what it is now is it not?

14

NO it is no longer that way.
You can not hit the QB once the ball has left his hand.

15

hmmm... i'd like to see a rule book on this one... cuz QB's get hit all the time after the ball leaves his hand and no call is made... i checked the rule book on the site here and couldn't find a definition on roughing the passer... closest thing i found was under Unnecessary Roughness... and it just says "contacting the passer in an unnecessarily rough manner"

Now i maybe just missed the roughing the passer definition in there or didn't look hard enough...

16

I am going by what the anouncers have said after a few calls have been made. example the call in the Toronto game last night

17

yeah... well they are announcers and may have made that comment a little tounge in cheek due to the calls... i'd still like to see the official rule books explanation of it. I really can't see it being as soon as the ball leaves the hand... like i said... QB's get hit all the time after the ball has left their hand without flags being thrown.

18

Yes they are anouncers but I have heard if too many times from different announcer for it to be tongue in cheek

19

ok…so what about all the times they get hit after the release the ball with no penalty called?.. those refs don’t care?.. don’t know the rule?.. i’d guess that in an avg. game the QB gets hit after he lets go of the ball with no penalty called more times than he gets hit and a call is made.

i don’t think that anybody…including the QB expects a guy that’s 6’4 280lbs to stop on a dime if he’s 2 feet in front of the guy when the QB lets go of the ball.

20

Hey what can I say? I agree with everything you said. Did you see the hit last night? The ball was bairley out of allen's hand and they called it.