A Chris Jones Strip-Sack Got Taken Away By A Horrific Roughing The Passer Call

As usual, the NFL produced several storylines in Week 5, but perhaps none of them received more coverage than a bizarre and pivotal roughing the passer call against the Atlanta Falcons. After Atlanta defensive tackle Grady Jarrett was whistled for a preposterous penalty for gently laying Tom Brady on the ground, the Falcons eventually lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a one-score margin, and sports roundtable shows discussed the play well into Monday morning. Fewer than 30 hours later, another very strange penalty flag emerged in similar fashion when Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones tracked down Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr in the second quarter on Monday.

With the Raiders leading 17-7 and driving near the end of the first half, Jones wrapped up Carr for what appeared to be a strip-sack that could swing the course of the game flow. A flag emerged and, after a long deliberation, word broke that it was for roughing the passer on Jones for landing on the quarterback with his full body weight (despite having the football himself at that point), prompting justified outrage.

Instantly, comparisons were drawn to the play involving Brady and Jarrett from Sunday. Once again, there did not seem to be anything reasonable that Jones could have done differently, and Dallas Cowboys standout Micah Parsons echoed that sentiment in real time on Twitter.

Dialogue was already ramping up after the Jarrett-Brady play but, with this penalty happening on Monday Night Football in front of a massive national audience, perhaps it will be an even bigger deal between now and Week 6. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything will change, but it is more than reasonable to wonder aloud how in the world this could happen twice in two days.