Bobby Wagner has been in the NFL for 10-plus seasons and during that time, he’s seen the league change its rules several times. Yet, there’s one common theme among them: The majority of the tweaks made by the NFL are in favor of the offense.
It’s become incredibly difficult to play defense, whether it’s because of the increased attention being paid to illegal contact infractions in coverage or an uptick in controversial roughing the passer penalties – ranging from hitting quarterbacks too high (or low) or landing on them with too much weight.
Now, the league is considering a rule that will make it possible to eject defenders for illegal hits, including those on quarterbacks. In Wagner’s opinion, that would be the wrong move.
On behalf of his partnership with Bud Light, Wagner spoke with Rams Wire and opened up about the NFL’s offensive-skewed rules and the possible introduction of a targeting-type rule.
“My biggest thing is it’s gotta be a two-way street. If we lower our heads into an offensive player, that’s a flag,” he said. “And they’re trying to change it to where we get kicked out of the game. I’ve seen offensive players lower their heads on defensive players and they just call it running us over. I just don’t think there’s an equal standard when it comes to protecting both sides of the ball. I’m specifically talking about the targeting rule. Every time I would watch college games, even bowl games, it would be in the first quarter and it’s a subjective call and a guy gets kicked out. That’s the way he ends his college career, being ejected for something that is a lot harder to control than people realize. It’s a lot of guys that are not playing this game making these rules and that’s why I applaud defenders in this day and age because it’s so hard to play defense.”
One particular play came to Wagner’s mind during our discussion. It was Chris Jones’ roughing the passer penalty during the Raiders-Chiefs game in October, negating a strip-sack and recovery by the standout defender.
The Chiefs should’ve gotten the ball, but instead, the Raiders retained it and gained 15 yards thanks to the penalty, ending the half with a field goal.
“Even the Chris Jones play where he gets a sack, he strips the ball, he has the ball, but the only way he can keep the ball and hold himself up from getting on the quarterback is he puts his hand down,” Wagner said. “So they negate the strip-sack fumble because he wasn’t able to keep his weight off the quarterback, which is not possible. Some of these things are not possible.”
Chris Jones with a trifecta, forced fumble, sack, recovery taken away via “full body weight” roughing the passer penalty. pic.twitter.com/fQdxOkhMFS
— 420Bonerz69 (@someonesonline) October 11, 2022
Wagner’s biggest issue with the idea that players could be ejected for certain hits is that it’ll only affect defensive players, not those on offense. That, Wagner believes, shows the NFL doesn’t care much about defense.
“I just don’t think it’s going to be fun watching your favorite player get ejected,” he added. “And not your favorite offensive player. Your favorite defensive player because offensive players are not going to get ejected. It’s going to be the defensive players. Every year it seems like they come out with rules and they’re all on the defensive side. At some point, you just gotta realize they don’t really care about the defense.”
It’s not as if defensive players aren’t trying to adapt to the NFL’s “kinda crazy” rules, either. Wagner says they’re trying, despite not being given any sort of grace period where they can learn to play with the new changes.
He hopes it doesn’t come to potential ejections because of the subjective nature of such calls.
“That’s the thing, though. We’re trying,” he said. “Even though we feel like these rules are kinda crazy, you see players attempting to try – and there’s no period where it’s like, ‘Let’s figure this out.’ We’re trying. It’s either extreme or not extreme. As soon as they make the rule, you have to abide by it. There’s no period where, ‘All right, we’re gonna give you a chance to figure this out.’ There is no figuring it out. Once it’s a rule, it’s a rule and you have to be a master at that rule. I just couldn’t imagine somebody getting ejected for something that is subjective to that official on that day.”
The competition committee would still need to approve any rule proposal where players could be ejected for illegal hits in the future, so there’s a chance it doesn’t get the green light. But if players feel the same way as Wagner, which many presumably do, there will likely be a lot of pushback if/when that rule is approved.
For now, defenders are trying to play within the rules currently outlined by the league, as difficult as that has become.
