Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has served on the league’s competition committee. His son, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, does now.
It sounds like Jerry Jones hopes Stephen Jones and the rest of the competition committee do something to curb the roughing the passer penalties for next season.
Jerry Jones strongly disagreed with a roughing the passer penalty on Cowboys defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford on Sunday.
“That was not roughing the passer under the existing rules,” Jones said, via Todd Archer of ESPN.
Officials have called nine roughing the passer calls in Week Three before tonight’s game, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN, making 30 for the season.
Crawford’s hit on Russell Wilson was similar to the one Clay Matthews delivered earlier in the day against Alex Smith. Referee Carl Cheffers determined Crawford landed with his body weight on top of Wilson.
Matthews said afterward that the league is “getting soft.” Crawford called it “petty stuff.”
“I’m going to get the letter,” Crawford said, referring to a fine letter from the league. “No one wants to get hit with something like that. We’ve got families we’ve got to take care of. That money can go to them. Instead ]the league is] trying to get us on petty stuff. It is what it is.”
Not necessarily. The league is calling the hits illegal on the field and using some of them, including Matthews’ hit on Kirk Cousins last week, as teaching tools. But Matthews was not fined for the hit on Cousins last week, and Eric Kendricks was not fined for the hit on Aaron Rodgers last week.
So Crawford could escape with a 15-yard penalty and no fine.