FAB 4. NFL Doesn’t Need To Change Roughing The Passer Rule

I can’t say that I’m a fan of the writing of ProFootballTalk.com’s Michael David Smith. He lost me a couple of years ago when he wrote that the Bucs should trade 1,000-yard wide receiver Mike Evans and sign a run-first quarterback like Tim Tebow on December 15, 2014. That’s right.

Trade Evans. Sign Tebow.

Don’t believe me? Here’s an excerpt:

“If the Bucs lose the next two games, we’ll spend months speculating about whether they’ll choose quarterback Marcus Mariota or quarterback Jameis Winston. Here’s my advice to the Buccaneers: Draft neither.

Instead, the Bucs should try something truly radical to turn their franchise around: Give up on the whole idea of a franchise quarterback altogether. While the 31 other teams value quarterbacks above all else, Tampa Bay should do something completely different and make quarterback their last priority, while building a great defense and a good running game.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

First, Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith should make a firm commitment to building a team with a great defense (something he’s done before in Chicago) and making the offense revolve around the running game, not the passing game. Smith should hire an offensive coordinator from a college with a run-heavy offense like Georgia Tech, which is the No. 12 team in the country this year using an offense in which the quarterback runs more often than he passes. The Bucs should aim to run the ball 50 or so times a game.”

So in a league where recent NFL rule changes have benefited the offense and encouraged the passing game, Smith wanted to take the Bucs back to the 1980s with three yards and a cloud of dust and encourage defenses to play eight-man fronts against Tampa Bay. So what happens when the running game is stopped and the Bucs are trailing 31-0 in the third quarter? I’ve written some controversial things in my 24 years of covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but I’ve tried to stay within the realm of reality and reason.

Yet Smith actually went further down the rabbit hole to the absurd.

“Such a commitment to running the ball would liberate the Bucs from having to go through the growing pains of a rookie quarterback, or having to spend a fortune on a starter in free agency. Instead, the Bucs should sign run-first quarterbacks like Terrelle Pryor, Vince Young or Tim Tebow, all of whom can be had for the league minimum salary. The Bucs have two good wide receivers in Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, but they should be traded for draft picks who can help build the defense.”

Smith suggested that the Bucs should’ve traded Evans, a top 10 pick less than two years removed from the 2014 at the time, even though he had two 1,000-yard seasons in his first two years in Tampa Bay, in addition to setting the record for most touchdown catches in a season during his rookie campaign. That’s just dumb.

So when this over-reactionary writer said the NFL should enact a dramatic rule change to over-protect quarterbacks just because Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, one of the league’s biggest stars, broke his collarbone after being slammed to the turf after a hit in Minnesota by linebacker Anthony Barr, I laughed and then shook my head in disbelief. I just can’t take this guy seriously.

Smith wrote: “I think it may be time for a radical rule change, one that makes hits like Barr’s illegal. It may be time for the NFL to consider dramatically expand the roughing the passer rules, and treat quarterbacks like kickers and punters: Basically, you can’t hit them at all once they’ve thrown a pass.”

That’s ridiculous. How many times do quarterbacks attempt to throw the ball away on the run as they’re being sacked or at the instant before a sack takes place? That’s what Rodgers was doing against the Vikings, and Barr’s pressure on Rodgers is what forced an incompletion on third down.

With the fear of Smith’s suggestion that a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty for merely hitting – or touching – a quarterback the split second after a throw, you would see a significant drop in the amount of sacks across the league and fans going crazy when opposing quarterbacks can roll out and complete passes on third down virtually unencumbered.

I’m surprised Smith didn’t suggest putting a flag on the quarterback’s waist and declaring he’s “sacked” once a defender pulls the flag, or suggesting “two-hand touches” result in sacks, because that’s what his proposed rule change amounts to.

Funny, I don’t think fans in Minnesota, Detroit and Chicago are clamoring for this rule change, let alone any other fans of NFC teams in the playoff hunt after years of Rodgers’ greatness tormenting them. Facing a neutered Green Bay team gives other teams NFC a chance at making the playoffs. That’s a cold, hard fact – but a fact nonetheless.

Injuries are a part of the game. They always have been and always will be – even at the quarterback position.

Where was Smith’s suggestion when Detroit’s Matthew Stafford suffered four shoulder A/C joint dislocations from 2009-10 that caused him to miss a total of 17 games? Where was Smith’s proposal after a broken collarbone sidelined former Dallas QB Tony Romo in 2010 and again in 2015? Romo missed a total of 22 games in those two seasons.

The average NFL quarterback throws around 500 pass attempts each year. Multiple that by 32 NFL QBs and you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,000 pass attempts annually in the league. Quarterbacks that suffer broken collarbones or shoulder injuries happen maybe three or four times each year, affecting just 10 percent of the starting QBs around the league.

But what about the other 15,996 pass attempts that could negatively be affected by such a drastic and unnecessary rule change? The gain does not outweigh the cost at all.

Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston injured his throwing shoulder when he was tackled on a similar play to the one that likely cost Rodgers the rest of his 2017 season. Winston was lucky in the way that he landed on his shoulder that it was pinned to his side and that his arm was not further forward or he might have suffered a similar injury.

But an awkward tackle can tear up the near or break an ankle of a running back at any time. How many times has Adrian Peterson, one of the league’s biggest stars, wound up on injured reserve? Did you notice that future star running back Dalvin Cook is already out for the rest of his rookie season with a knee injury? Why do quarterbacks deserve special treatment?

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Getty Images

There are several instances when losing a starting quarterback can instantly derail a team’s season. But that situation creates opportunities for other teams to rise, in addition to some notable backup quarterbacks.

If Trent Green hadn’t torn an ACL in the preseason in St. Louis during the 1999 season Kurt Warner may have never gotten the opportunity to become a two-time NFL MVP, a Super Bowl champion and a Pro Football Hall of Famer. If Drew Bledsoe hadn’t been injured during the 2001 season, Tom Brady may not have emerged as a five-time Super Bowl champion, a four-time Super Bowl MVP and the greatest quarterback in NFL history.

Winston might end up starting this Sunday in Buffalo, or Dirk Koetter may opt to start backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who threw for 290 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in a valiant comeback attempt in last week’s 38-33 loss at Arizona despite being down 31-0 in the third quarter. While it’s a shame that the Bucs might be without Winston for a game or two, and that Green Bay will be out of the playoff hunt after losing Rodgers, injuries are a known risk of suiting up to play football in the NFL or at any level.

Part of football’s appeal is its violence, its toughness, its hits and its collisions. Football is a gladiator-inspired game. Player safety is one thing, but needlessly trying to legislate the violence out of a violent game just because a star quarterback broke his collarbone is something else. It’s stupid.

TV viewership of NFL games is already down a disturbing 11 percent this year and attendance in stadiums is waning over protests regarding players taking a knee to draw attention to social issues during the National Anthem. Thirty-two percent of American adults say they are less likely to watch an NFL game because of the kneeling protestors. The last thing the NFL needs to do is make quarterbacks untouchable or turn the game into flag football – unless it wants to turn off even more fans.