The Atlanta Falcons are going to have a tough time getting over Sunday’s Week 5 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the postgame remarks from referee Jerome Boger won’t make that flight home any easier for Arthur Smith’s team.
After falling down 21-0, the Falcons battled back to get within six points. And with just under three minutes to play in the game, Grady Jarrett did about everything he could to sack Tom Brady cleanly on third down to force what should have been a punting situation.
That was when Boger jumped in to flip the game upside down. He called one of the worst roughing the passer calls you’ll see in an NFL game. And worst of all: He stood by his call in the postgame pool report.
Referee Jerome Boger told pool reporter @gregauman that the roughing the passer penalty on #Falcons DT Grady Jarrett was for “unnecessarily throwing (Tom Brady) to the ground.” pic.twitter.com/rqxyNzjd6I
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 9, 2022
According to Boger, he saw Jarrett “unnecessarily” throw Brady to the ground when replays showed Jarrett wrap Brady up from the hip while in pursuit and simply complete the tackle.
I've seen a lot of #NFL football in my life, but someone is going to have to explain this roughing the passer call in the @AtlantaFalcons / @Buccaneers game. I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like this pic.twitter.com/YvmekNYxG2
— Scott Pioli (@scottpioli51) October 9, 2022
Again, Jarrett didn’t throw Brady as he had the Bucs quarterback wrapped up through the entire motion of the tackle. It was a terrible call and arguably an even worse explanation from a ref who’s been known to botch roughing calls.
NFL fans had heard enough from Boger after his latest remarks.
This was how Twitter reacted
Unnecessarily throwing him to the ground??? https://t.co/yY8mgXqExT
— ROBERT MATHIS QBH8r (@RobertMathis98) October 9, 2022
Second straight week Boger has had to explain a bad roughing call to the pool reporter. Maybe that’s the issue. https://t.co/0DjpF9gMn5
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 9, 2022
You can’t “throw” something you never let go of … there was no throwing of Brady. https://t.co/mFwEvcRBch
— Mark Zinno (@MarkZinno) October 9, 2022
Lol what pic.twitter.com/wduwrqQJde https://t.co/f24rrIv7ZW
— zach ragan (@zachTNT) October 9, 2022
Well that’s because Jerome Boger is the worst referee in the league and has been for some time https://t.co/G3Q3WTf5tQ
— Isaac Schorr (@isaac_schorr) October 9, 2022
LMAO “unnecessary” for @GradyJarrett to do what he’s been paid to do, which is tackle people. Just say the rules are different for Tom Brady dog… that shit is embarrassing, there’s no malicious intent. However, if Grady hurts himself from an OL cutting him there no harm no foul? https://t.co/kofFUb5JMb
— 👻 Spooky Damski 🎃 (@Damski32) October 9, 2022
What is it with people in today's society and never wanting to admit they made the wrong call? They would rather jump through flaming hoops and catch on fire to justify their decisions https://t.co/4qAdG5hFEg
— Luis D. Sung (@LuisDSung) October 9, 2022
“Unnecessarily?” Grady Jarrett was supposed to play 2-hand touch there? https://t.co/dnqga1XbeT pic.twitter.com/Cl8RgWJPG5
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) October 9, 2022
Get this crew out of here. https://t.co/imeNxL0hac
— Lindsay Patterson (@LndsPatterson) October 9, 2022
Enough is enough, NFL. Boger’s mistakes cannot continue like this.
