Long have football fans been frustrated with how roughing the passer penalties are officiated in the NFL.
This past Sunday, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones became the first player flagged for roughing the passer with the football in his hands. While that seemed to be the poster play for any alteration to the rule -- much like the Jesse James non-catch helped ignite a spark for change to how a catch is defined in the rulebook -- the league stood by how the play was called.
Since the rulebook is the NFL's sacred word, this play was penalized due to the section of the rule that states, "the defensive player must strive to wrap up the passer with the defensive player’s arms and not land on the passer with all or most of his body weight.