Week 5 of the 2022 NFL season was defined by the league’s murky definition of what they consider to constitute a roughing the passer penalty, and though the Los Angeles Rams weren’t victims of a bad call, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris was asked about the recent controversies in his Thursday press conference.
With an All-Pro pass rusher like Aaron Donald on his roster, it seems like it is only a matter of time before the Rams fall victim to a bad call in this area. Morris told reporters that he has a thorough understanding of the league’s stance on the matter, but made it clear that since the safety of players is a top priority in the NFL’s concussion era, effective enforcement comes down to referees’ ability to call the penalties in a way that doesn’t affect the outcome of a given matchup.
“So the first view for it, is I understand it’s for player safety, which is first and foremost in what we do,” Morris explained. “The next thing is you have to coach it. We have been over the last couple of years. We talk about hitting in the strike zone, which is below the neck area and above the waist area because you can’t go too low, you can’t go too high. Some of those things are penalties. They did, however, take out some of the penalties when you graze their head with your hand, which I thought was excellent this year, and now it was talking about the landing on them and how you want to land on them. And so you have to try to roll.
“Some penalties are going to get called that you think are wrong, that’ll always happen. That’ll always be part of our game, that’ll always be what it is. Do we have to try to protect that from those penalties that are so critical? No doubt, no question. I’m sure the league will clean that up. I’m sure they’ll get together and we’ll get rid of some of those controversial calls that we have from the last week. Nobody wants to see that, fans, players, coaches, media members, nobody. So, we’ll clean those things up, but we all just got to know what’s in the benefit of player safety and we got to keep that first and foremost on our minds.”
The implications of last week’s questionable calls will loom large over the league’s schedule in the coming weeks as fans clamor for them to change their rules or make key plays reviewable to make sure that regulations are enforced correctly. Nobody wants to see quarterbacks get injured, but the correct application of the rules will be necessary to ensure that the integrity and core physicality of the game never comes into question.