In the past two years, the NFL’s roughing-the-passer rule has been a hot topic. After a questionable call against Dallas Cowboys, Derek Carr, the Las Vegas Raiders’ quarterback, couldn’t help but giggle on Thursday.
Carr found Hunter Renfrow, a Cowboys defender, for an 11-yard pass. It’s obvious that Carr smiled afterward, as you can see from the replay.
@Mr4thAndLong @derekcarrqb was literally laughing in the huddle as he cheated to get that flag! It's poor officiating, but the way he reacted was a like a soccer player, damn embarrassing!! pic.twitter.com/9BmB6IdnaT
— Endo âœðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ 🇺🇸✠(@endo14) November 25, 2021
Roughing the passer pic.twitter.com/1h1vNPsxmT
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 25, 2021
Terry McAulay, a former NFL head of officiating analyst and Sunday Night Football rules analysis, joined the conversation via Twitter shortly thereafter.
“Forcible contact is subjective,” McAulay tweeted. “But I would place this in the “glancing” category instead of ‘forcible.” ‘”
The call led to the Raiders securing a touchdown on their final drive, giving them a lead of 24-13 over the Cowboys. Marcus Mariota, the backup quarterback, ran the ball three yards to the end zone to extend their lead.
Las Vegas was not able to get comfortable. Tony Pollard, Cowboys’ return man, took the kickoff 100 yards to home to make it a 24-19 game. Dallas was penalized for not converting the two-point conversion against Las Vegas. It became a five point game.
An ex-official of the NFL weighs in on Cowboys’ fumble recovery
This wasn’t the first questionable call made by officials in the game. Raiders tight end Darren Waller seemed to fumble the ball in the first quarter. Cowboys safety Keanu Naal did an acrobatic move to keep the ball within bounds.
The officials then met to discuss whether Waller had caught the fish. They decided that he did not catch the catch, so possession was retained in Las Vegas.
McAulay tweeted that he believed the call should have remained a fumble.
McAulay tweeted, “This appears to have been another example of using Replay Assist for changing the ruling on a field when it’s not clear and evident that the field ruling was incorrect.” “The receiver takes control from 2 feet down and then turns upfield. This was the first ruling on the field.