Referee Defends Controversial Chris Jones Roughing the Passer Call

The Chiefs star’s sack and fumble recovery was waived off, allowing the Raiders to score.

Had the Chiefs failed to come back to defeat the Raiders on Monday night, even more attention would be paid to the deeply controversial roughing the passer call on defensive lineman undefined, for what would have been a strip sack and fumble recovery off of Las Vegas quarterback Derek Carr.

Down 17–7 late in the second quarter, Jones made what looked to be a momentum-shifting play at the time. He raked Carr over the throwing arm from behind, dislodging the ball before taking the quarterback down and recovering the fumble in one motion.

Unfortunately for Kansas City, the referees called him for roughing the passer, extending the Raiders possession. They finished it with a Daniel Carlson field goal, pushing their lead to 20–7. The Chiefs would ultimately come back in the second half to pull out a dramatic 30–29 win.

Arrowhead Stadium was LOUD after this call

(via @TSN_Sports) pic.twitter.com/4kBt2jcAut

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 11, 2022

After the game, referee Carl Cheffers defended the call, saying that Jones landed on Carr with his full body weight, which can trigger the penalty in the NFL.

Carr received “full protection of all aspects of what we give the quarterback in a passing posture,” Cheffers said, per ESPN. “So when he was tackled, my ruling was the defender landed on him with full body weight. The quarterback is protected from being tackled with full body weight.”

He added that the quarterback is protected “until he can defend himself,” making the fumble irrelevant in the play. 

Chiefs coach Andy Reid approached Cheffers at the half, after being deeply unhappy with the call. 

“I got it off my chest,’' Reid said. “I said what I needed to say.’'

Jones said he understands how the play looks in real time, but denied that he landed with his full body weight on Carr, wondering how plausible it is for him to tackle in a way that doesn’t seem to be against the rules.

“There’s no need for an explanation,” Jones told reporters, via Arrowhead Report. “What am I going to go up to them and say? ‘How should I tackle?’ ‘How should I not roll on him?’ I’m trying my best. I’m 325 pounds. What do you want me to do? I’m running full speed trying to get to the quarterback.

“The ref, I get it. It happened so fast, and it kind of looked like that initially but when you actually look through the video and slow it down, you see I kind of braced. The ref might have just seen a big 300-pound [man] land on him, and I get it. I get it. I’m not saying the ref is wrong, but I’m just saying that those situations can affect the game tremendously.”

The call on Jones followed a similarly controversial roughing the passer call in Sunday’s Bucs-Falcons game. In wake of the Tua Tagovailoa incident, it looks fairly clear that the NFL is doubling down on protecting quarterbacks, something few will argue with, but the weekend’s slate of games indicate that the league still needs to find a happy medium on this issue.

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