The Commanders beat the Patriots 20-17 on Sunday, but they had to come back from seven points down in the second half thanks in part to a highly questionable penalty call by referee Adrian Hill.
Commanders defensive end K.J. Henry sacked Patriots quarterback Mac Jones on a third-down play in the third quarter to set up a likely punt, but referee Adrian Hill flagged him for roughing Jones despite the tackle being about as routine as one could imagine. Henry hit Jones from behind and brought him to the ground while his momentum led him up Jones’ body and onto the field.
The Patriots would go on to kick a field goal that put them up 17-10. Pool reporter Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post asked Hill what he saw on the play.
“I was the calling official and the call was roughing the passer due to full body weight,” Henry said. “The ruling on the field was that the defender came down with forceable contact, chest-to-chest. He didn’t perform one of those acts to remove most of that body weight – a gator roll or a clear to the side when he was coming in. He came down directly with that force on the player, so the category was full body weight.”
Hill was then asked what a defensive player is supposed to do if that’s considered a foul.
“There are two common techniques,” Hill said. “One we call the ‘gator roll’ where if he takes that player and rolls to the side so they both land on their side, that 90-degree rotation as he comes around. Or he comes down and breaks the fall first with hands and knees almost like in a crab-like fashion on top of the quarterback.”
Former NFL officiating head Dean Blandino appeared on the Fox broadcast to provide his take on Hill’s call.
“This is what the officials are being directed to call,” Blandino said. “They want the defenders to get off to the side. But like you guys are saying, this is just a tackle, this just momentum, there’s nothing punishing, there’s no second act. I don’t like it as a foul, but this is what the league is directing the officials to call.”
It’s hard to reconcile the clip of the play with anything Hill said to justify throwing a flag, but if that’s actually what the league wants officials to call then we’re likely going to see a lot of roughing the passer penalties in the remaining weeks of the season.
