Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett had a phenomenal game on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but a penalty put a dark cloud over his day.
During the second quarter of what ultimately turned out to be a tie game, Garrett was called for a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty for landing on Ben Roethlisberger on a sack. One play later, the Steelers scored a touchdown.
This is now roughing the passer…..Football is dead pic.twitter.com/MW5mKEqAP2
— Bailey melvin (@bailey_melvin) September 9, 2018
The league has admitted a day later that the critical call against Garrett was not correct.
“Well, they have to not put the weight on the quarterback. And this one (on Garrett) yesterday showed, even though there is some body weight on Ben, this is not what we would consider contact that rises to the level of a foul,” said Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, per NFL.com.
This one play might not have changed the outcome. It might have, though. It’s impossible to know, one way or another.
What we do know for sure is that the NFL’s push to make the game safer for players (specifically quarterbacks) is not an easy transition, for the players or the officials.