The Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday were on the wrong end of what may have been the worst roughing the passer call of the season.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed a 29-yard pass to Christian Kirk on third down late in the first quarter. As he released the ball, Lawrence was hit in the midsection by Steelers safety Keanu Neal. The play looked clean, but Neal was flagged for roughing the passer.
Neal did not hit Lawrence too high or too low. There was no contact to the head area. The hit also was not late, as Neal had already begun his tackle while Lawrence was throwing and hit Lawrence a second after the ball left the quarterback’s hand.
The only thing the official could have possibly thought was that Neal was guilty of “stuffing” Lawrence into the ground, which is when a defender lands on a quarterback with all of his body weight. That was not the case, either, as Neal let up at the end and just barely landed on Lawrence’s legs.
Jacksonville was given 15 free yards on the play. They fumbled later in the drive, so the bad call did not end up costing the Steelers.
We saw a similar roughing the passer call last week that was very questionable (video here), but even that was not nearly as egregious as the penalty on Neal.
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