[EldrickOnIce]

SI opinion piece suggesting the NFL should amend rules for unnecessary roughness to the same distinction as is for kickers. A five yard roughing penalty (like he says would have been the call on the Mahomes late hit) and unnecessary roughness where appropriate.

Something bothered me about the late-hit penalty on Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai in the AFC Championship Game. It wasn’t the ruling, which was correct, or the rule, which makes sense. It wasn’t that officials called the penalty at such a critical juncture of the game; the definition of a penalty shouldn’t change with two minutes left just because fans and media might be annoyed by its impact on the game.

No, what bothered me was the punishment.

Fifteen yards for that?

This, I think, is one of the fundamental problems with NFL officiating these days. Too frequently, the punishment does not fit the crime. Imagine a five-yard penalty in that situation. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes ran out of bounds at the Bengals’ 42, which would have meant a 60-yard field goal attempt if they tried it. After a five-yard penalty on Ossai, the Chiefs would have moved up to the 37, which would have meant a 55-yard field goal. That’s a significant difference, but not nearly as significant as Kansas City getting to try a 45-yarder, which is what happened.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/01/30/nf...penalty-change