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NFL Releases Statement On Controversial New Roughing The Passer Rules

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Jena Greene Reporter
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The NFL has released an official statement regarding the controversial new rule about how players are allowed hit quarterbacks, known otherwise as the “roughing the passer,” or more simply the “Aaron Rodgers rule.”

With multiple athletes coming out against the rule in recent weeks, the NFL was under pressure to either edit the rule, or dig in.

After receiving multiple penalties just three weeks into the season, Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews called the NFL “soft” for its new rule. (RELATED: Here’s Why This NFL Star Claims The League Is Getting ‘Soft’)

Texans defensive end JJ Watt called the rule “out of control.”

As pressure continues to mount ahead of Week Four, the NFL released an official statement on the rule via executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent:

The NFL Competition Committee met last night by conference call to discuss the enforcement of roughing the passer rules with a specific emphasis on the use of body weight by a defender. The committee reviewed video of roughing the passer fouls from both this season to date and 2017.

In reiterating its position on quarterback protection, the committee determined there would be no changes to the point of emphasis approved this spring or to the rule, of which the body weight provision has been in place since 1995.

To ensure consistency in officiating the rule, the committee clarified techniques that constitute a foul.

Video feedback will continue to be provided throughout the season to coaches, players and officials illustrating clear example of permissible and impermissible contact on the quarterback.

In other words, everybody can go home now. The new roughing the passer rule is here to stay. Week Four of the NFL, and the continuation of the new roughing the passer rule, starts tonight when the Vikings play the Rams at 8:20 p.m.

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