The Los Angeles Rams were on the fortunate side of the latest controversial roughing call in the NFL.
In the third quarter of the Rams’ Week 9 game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford managed to draw a curious flag for roughing the passer. Facing 3rd-and-8 from Seattle’s 12-yard line, Stafford threw an incompletion to running back Kyren Williams while he was falling down. Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall then ran into Stafford with his left arm making contact with Stafford’s chest and his right arm making a bit of contact with Stafford’s head.
That was enough for the officials to throw a flag for roughing. Check out the video of the play (in which Stafford was clearly already going down when he was hit).
Instead of fourth down, the penalty gave the Rams 1st-and-goal from the Seattle 6-yard line. While they were not able to punch it for the touchdown, Rams kicker Joshua Karty then got an easy 21-yard chip shot field goal to tie the game at 13. Rams cornerback Kam Kinchens then picked off Geno Smith in the other end zone on the ensuing Seattle drive and took it back 103 yards to the house to fully flip the game’s momentum.
While the contact (however light) to Stafford’s head may have been the basis for the roughing call, that was still a really curious penalty considering that Stafford was already falling down on his own accord. You might recall just last week too that the Rams benefited from another controversial sequence, this time as the defensive side getting helped out by a bizarre no-call.
