Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick’s roughing the passer penalty against QB Jimmy Garoppolo in the fourth quarter of the Steelers’ win over the Las Vegas Raiders was, at best, a questionable call that sparked a range of reactions. It didn’t end up impacting the result, as Pittsburgh still hung on to win, 23-18, but the call is still being discussed. CBS NFL rules analyst and former official Gene Steratore believes that the hit needs to spark a broader discussion about what defines a passer versus a runner at the quarterback position.
“It’s a very, very, very difficult situation for a referee. Garoppolo is in a passing posture initially, so he’s a passer. He is afforded all passer protections. At the moment the pocket starts to break down, and again, we’re talking in fractions of a second here. When he tucks that football down from his passing posture and is either bracing for contacts because the pocket’s collapsing, or because T.J.’s [Watt] visiting for the 14th time tonight, he kind of becomes a runner again,” Steratore said during an appearance on the DVE Morning Show Tuesday.
He said that in his estimation, Garoppolo should’ve been classified as a runner, and the only penalty Fitzpatrick could’ve been flagged for was illegal use of helmet if he did indeed hit him with the crown of his helmet. But his larger point was that as the league moves to protect quarterbacks more, there needs to be a discussion to curb the continuing trend of poorly called roughing the passer penalties.
“I think that’s one of these things that these new referees, as we continue to add more safety around the quarterbacks, and I do believe for the right reasons, that’s a philosophical discussion that the office needs to have with the referees, with the officials, and with the teas, truthfully, to say look, at what point is he no longer a passer,” Steratore said.
Only passers are awarded the protection on hits to the head and neck area, as once you become a runner, you’re allowed to be hit pretty much anywhere on your body as long as the hit isn’t helmet-to-helmet. Garoppolo was awarded those protections as a passer, which led to the call on Fitzpatrick. That’s despite the fact that Garoppolo had tucked the ball and braced for contact, which Steratore believes was enough to classify him as a runner.
As he said, everything comes down to fractions of a second, and it’s hard for officials to make a clear determination on plays like that in the heat of the moment. There’s always the option to make those sorts of plays reviewable, but after the disastrous decision to allow challenges on roughing the passer penalties, the NFL might be wary about making potential penalties reviewable again.
That’s why it’s imperative that the league office and the officiating crews get on the same page about what should and should not be roughing the passer. As Joey Porter Jr. said last week, the game you get can vary depending on the officiating crew, and while some variance is to be expected, an officiating crew shouldn’t decide the game making a call that another crew might not make.
The NFL has to find a way to make it clear on these sorts of calls what the correct ruling should be. Whether Garoppolo should’ve been called a runner or a passer needs to be clearly laid out, so going forward other officials will have precedent on the type of call to make. It’s a discussion that has to happen for the betterment of the game, and with questionable roughing the passer penalties rising, it’s something that might be addressed in a more drastic way going forward.
