In an era of football where the quarterback seems more protected than ever, the New York Jets are not benefiting from the rules
Data has officially backed up the suspicions of New York Jets fans.
A new article by NBC’s Mike Florio has brought the Jets’ standing with the NFL’s roughing the passer rules to light. In today’s era of football, it would be assumed that most teams in the league would benefit from roughing the passer penalties at about the same rate. Unfortunately for the Jets, that is not the case.
Florio states in his article, “A review of the relevant data reveals that, since 2021, the Jets have been penalized 16 times for roughing. In turn, the officials have called only three roughing fouls against the Jets’ opponents. The 16 calls against the Jets are the most in the league in that time frame. The three calls for the Jets are the least.”
The article also states that the Jets have gone 26(!) straight games without having a roughing the passer call go in their favor.
These numbers could be interpreted in a few different ways. One could say it highlights the NFL’s lack of care about unsuccessful teams and non-superstar quarterbacks. Others may say it shows the incompetence of the league’s officials.
Regardless of the interpretation, the reality is that this discrepancy in calls has severely harmed the Jets. There have been many calls for roughing the passer against the Jets that have swung close games. Missed calls that should have gone in the Jets’ favor have caused their quarterbacks to get hurt or drives to stall out when they should have continued.
At the end of the day, the NFL needs to strive towards getting calls right for all teams, and a major part of that is ensuring that the Jets get the calls against their quarterback that they haven’t received in years.
