Chris Jones on Roughing the Passer Call: ‘What Do You Want Me to Do?’

The Kansas City defensive tackle was issued a roughing the passer penalty when sacking quarterback Derek Carr.

Monday Night Football’s ChiefsRaiders matchup saw another controversial roughing the passer call this week, this time on Kansas City defensive tackle undefined.

Jones sacked Raiders quarterback Derek Carr on a play late in the second quarter, and then ripped the ball away from the quarterback before he hit the turf. However, the Chiefs star landed on top of Carr, and the officiating crew threw a flag for a roughing the passer penalty.

After the game, Jones, like many other football fans, was confused as to what else he was supposed to do in that situation.

“There’s no need for an explanation,” Jones said, via KSHB41. “What am I going to go up to him [the referee, Carl Cheffers] and say, ‘How should I tackle? How should I not roll on him?’ I’m trying my best. I’m 325 pounds, O.K. What do you want me to do?”

Monday night’s controversial penalty came just one day after the football world debated another roughing the passer penalty from the Buccaneers–Falcons game. Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady was sacked by Atlanta’s Grady Jarrett, in what many saw as a clean hit, but the defensive player was still issued a penalty.

Because roughing the passer penalties have become such a hot topic of conversation, Jones added on Monday night that he thinks the league should potentially look into reviewing the penalties.

“I think it’s now it’s like taking the initiative to extend to look at roughing the passers now as a league, like they did pass interferences a couple years back, where we can view the pass interference,” Jones said. “I think they’ve put such an emphasis on it that we need to be able to view it in the booth now. That’s the next step for the NFL as a whole. Looks can be deceiving. When you look at a replay, it’s a whole different thing. It’s getting absurd.”

The head referee, Cheffers, later explained his reasoning for issuing the penalty, saying that the play became a penalty when Jones “landed on him [Carr] with full body weight.”

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.