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Tag: Sports officiating

  • Smart says new 1st-down rule good start to shortening games

    Smart says new 1st-down rule good start to shortening games

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    Georgia coach Kirby Smart says proposed changes to clock operating rules shouldn’t significantly impact college games next season, but he called them a good first step to reducing the number of plays in the name of player health and safety.

    The NCAA Football Rules Committee on Friday approved a proposal to keep the clock running when a team makes a first down except in the last two minutes of a half. Since 1968, the clock has stopped on a first down until the referee gives the ready-for-play signal.

    The committee forwarded two other proposals to keep games moving. One would have penalties that are accepted at the end of the first and third quarters enforced at the start of the following quarter rather than having an untimed down. The other would take away the option for a coach to call back-to-back timeouts during the same dead ball period.

    “We think the changes are going to be very minimal here,” said Smart, the committee co-chair. “You could say, Why did you change it at all? It’s going to flow better.”

    The committee gave no serious consideration to a proposal to keep the clock running after an incomplete pass.

    The proposed changes would go into effect in the 2023 season if approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on April 20.

    Steve Shaw, NCAA secretary-rules editor and national coordinator of officials, said the rules committee took a conservative approach to begin the process of shortening games.

    With the College Football Playoff expanding from four to 12 teams in 2024-25, and possibly more in the future, conference commissioners had asked the committee to look for ways to cut down on the number of plays in games in an attempt to mitigate potential injury exposures.

    Shaw said the new clock rule on first downs would take about eight plays out of the game, which would be about 96 fewer exposures over a regular season and more for teams that play in bowls and the playoff.

    The NFL keeps the clock running on first downs the entire game, and Shaw said keeping the old rule in place the last two minutes of halves represents a “beautiful difference” between the pro and college games.

    “Those last two minutes are critical,” Shaw said. “By stopping the clock it gives teams and opportunity to make a comeback. Everybody on the committee was resolute: we’re not going directly to the NFL rule.”

    In a move that mostly affects Divisions II and III, the committee approved the optional use of instant replay in games that do not have a replay official. It would allow the referee to use available video to make decisions on reviewable plays after a coach challenge.

    Also, with some exceptions, drones will not be allowed over the playing surface or the team area when teams are on the field.

    ___

    AP college : https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25 Sign up for the AP Top 25 newsletter here: https://link.apnews.com/join/6nr/morning-wire-newsletter-footer-internal-ads

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  • Alabama: Miller not a suspect in shooting, remains on team

    Alabama: Miller not a suspect in shooting, remains on team

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    COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of Alabama said Wednesday that leading scorer Brandon Miller remains an “active member” of the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide and is not considered a suspect in a fatal shooting that took place near campus last month. An attorney for the player said his client never handled the gun officials say was involved in the shooting.

    “Based on all the information that we have received, Brandon Miller is not considered a suspect in this case, only a cooperative witness,” the university said in a statement released just hours before Alabama was to play at South Carolina. “Today’s statement from Brandon’s lawyer adds additional context that the University considered as part of its review of the facts. Based on all the facts that we have gathered, Brandon remains an active member of the team”

    Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told ESPN’s College GameDay podcast that Miller traveled with the team to South Carolina, went through walk-through and was expected to play.

    Miller’s attorney said his client never handled the gun owned by ex-Alabama player Darius Miles. Miles is accused of providing his gun to Michael Davis, who fired it and killed Jamea Harris, prosecutors say.

    “Brandon never touched the gun, was not involved in its exchange to Mr. Davis in any way, and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur,” Miller’s lawyer, Jim Standridge, said in a statement.

    Miller’s alleged involvement in the death of the 23-year-old Harris was detailed Tuesday at a preliminary hearing for Miles and Davis, both facing capital murder charges in Harris’ death. An investigator, Brandon Culpepper, testified that Miles texted Miller to bring him his handgun.

    Alabama coach Nate Oats has said the team was aware Miller allegedly brought the gun to Miles.

    Standridge said in the statement that Miles asked Miller for a ride to a club. Standridge said Miles’ brought his “legal handgun and left it in the backseat of Brandon’s vehicle. Brandon never saw the handgun nor handled it.”

    Miles later texted Miller to bring him the gun. Miller never got out of his vehicle, was not part of the exchange with Davis and did not interact with anyone in Harris’ party, according to Standridge.

    Miles quickly drove off when gunfire took place, Standridge said. When Miles was told someone was hurt and police wanted to speak to him, “he has fully cooperated with law enforcement’s investigation,” Standridge said.

    Standridge said the events of the shooting were captured on video. “There is no dispute about Brandon’s activities during this evening,” Standridge said.

    Miller is a 6-foot-9 forward who leads the Crimson Tide with 18.7 points and eight rebounds a game this season and is considered a possible lottery pick in June’s NBA draft.

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    AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • Kansas City ready to celebrate its latest Super Bowl win

    Kansas City ready to celebrate its latest Super Bowl win

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    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to line the streets of downtown Kansas City on Wednesday as the city celebrates the Kansas City Chiefs’ second Super Bowl championship in two years.

    Chiefs coach Andy Reid and Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be joined by teammates, family and Chiefs officials as they ride in open-air vehicles down one of the city’s main downtown streets.

    Most schools, many businesses and some government offices in the Kansas City metro area will be closed so people can celebrate. The event starts at noon and will end with a victory rally at the city’s Union Station.

    Officials began planning the parade even before the Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 Sunday on a field goal with 8 seconds remaining in the game.

    Officials said that more than 19 local and area law enforcement agencies, along with fire departments and transportation leaders are ready for the anticipated crowd.

    The City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Committee agreed to earmark $750,000 for parade-related expenses, and Mayor Quinton Lucas estimated overtime costs for police and firefighters would total more than $1.5 million.

    The the Kansas City Sports Commission is expected to contribute another $1 million in private donations, and the Jackson County Legislature voted to add $75,000.

    After decades of championship drought, the city is gaining experience with victory parades. Two years ago, the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers for the team’s first Super Bowl championship in 50 years. That followed the Kansas City Royals winning the World Series in 2015, the city’s first baseball championship in 30 years.

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  • Numbers drawn for $747 million Powerball jackpot

    Numbers drawn for $747 million Powerball jackpot

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    DES MOINES, Iowa — The numbers have been drawn for an estimated $747 million Powerball jackpot and players must now wait to learn whether there is a big winner.

    The numbers drawn late Monday night were 05, 11, 22, 23, 69 and the Powerball 07.

    No one has won the jackpot since Nov. 19, 2022, allowing the prize to grow larger with each of the game’s three weekly drawings. It now stands as the ninth-largest in U.S. history.

    Lottery officials normally take hours before announcing whether there has been a winning ticket sold.

    The $747 million jackpot is for winners who opt for an annuity paid over 29 years. Higher interest rates have allowed those annuity payments to increase compared with earlier jackpots, when rates were lower.

    Most winners prefer cash, which for Monday night’s drawing would be $403.1 million.

    The game’s abysmal odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes drawing more players. That strategy certainly has worked recently, as someone in Maine won a $1.35 billion Mega Millions prize in January and a California player hit a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot last November. No one has claimed either of those prizes.

    Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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  • Hall of Fame NFL official Art McNally dies at age 97

    Hall of Fame NFL official Art McNally dies at age 97

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    Art McNally, the first on-field official inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, has died. He was 97.

    His son, Tom McNally, said Monday that his father died of natural causes at a hospital in Newtown, Pennsylvania, near his longtime home.

    McNally died less than five months after getting inducted into the Hall of Fame following more than a half-century working as an on-field official, the head of officiating for the NFL and an adviser to the league who is credited with modernizing the practice of how games are officiated.

    “Art McNally was an extraordinary man, the epitome of integrity and class,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement Monday. “Throughout his distinguished officiating career, he earned the eternal respect of the entire community. Fittingly, he was the first game official enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. But more importantly, he was a Hall of Fame person in absolutely every way.”

    While baseball, basketball and hockey had inducted several officials into their Halls of Fame, McNally was the first to receive the honor in the NFL back in August.

    There couldn’t have been a more appropriate choice for the honor than McNally, whose fingerprints are all over how games are officiated even today.

    After a nine-year career on the field, McNally overhauled the department when he took it over in 1968 and remained involved until retiring in 2015.

    “Art McNally was a quiet, honest man of integrity,” Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement. “To see Art’s decades of service recognized with his enshrinement as part of the Class of 2022 was a special moment for the Hall. His legacy as a strong leader who helped usher in the advanced training of officials and the technology necessary to keep up with a faster and more complicated game will be preserved forever in Canton.”

    McNally got his start in officiating in an informal way when he called games while serving in the Marines in World War II. He went on to call more than 3,000 games in , basketball and baseball, chronicling them all in books he kept, according to son-in-law Brian O’Hara.

    Before shifting to the NFL league office in 1968, McNally would often officiate high school, college and professional games on the same weekend.

    “He was natural at it,” O’Hara said this past summer. “From being a teacher and being kind of like a rule follower his life because he followed the rules. … The biggest thing was he enjoyed making it fair. That’s all he wanted to do was to be fair and to get it right. I guess that’s the things he enjoyed about officiating.”

    McNally’s biggest impact came in how the NFL evaluated and trained officials in a system that is still mostly in place today.

    Under his watch, the NFL standardized how officials worked a game in their positioning and what calls they made to bring more consistency to the sport.

    He used all-22 game film to teach the officials and grade their performance, using the film to teach as well as evaluate officials. He utilized weekly training videos and rules quizzes to help improve the officiating across the league.

    “That was brand new,” Dean Blandino, one of McNally’s successors as the NFL’s head of officiating, said before McNally’s induction.

    “That was kind of cutting edge. People weren’t doing it. Art came in and understood that this was something that was needed and laid that foundation and that foundation is still what we stand on today in the officiating world. Every league in every sport at every level has an evaluation system and that all goes back to Art.”

    McNally also helped implement the NFL’s first use of instant replay in the 1980s and got his first chance to work a Super Bowl as a replay official following the 1986 season.

    That version of replay was abolished in 1991, but McNally provided guidance to his successors when replay returned in 1999, as he was steadfast in his belief that the league should use any tool to help officials make the correct calls.

    “You just want to get it right,” former NFL referee Ed Hochuli said this summer. “Art was the definition of that. If you look up the definition of integrity in the dictionary and there’s a picture of Art.”

    McNally is survived by his wife, Sharon, his children Marybeth, Tom and Michael, and his grandchildren.

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    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP—NFL

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  • Warriors’ Green says Bucks fan ‘threatened’ him; fan tossed

    Warriors’ Green says Bucks fan ‘threatened’ him; fan tossed

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    MILWAUKEE — A fan was ejected following a complaint by Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green during a game at Milwaukee on Tuesday night, and the Bucks said they were investigating the incident and consulting with the NBA.

    The fan said “some threatening stuff to my life,” Green said.

    Golden State’s Stephen Curry was shooting free throws with 5:19 left in the third quarter when Green spoke with a game official, repeatedly pointing toward a man sitting a few rows off the opposite baseline.

    The official conferred with security personnel at Firserv Forum, and the fan was escorted out. Earlier in the period, the fan and Green had exchanged words.

    “I was this close to really going back and diving all the way in, but just went back and told the official. And when I told the official, he said, he’s got to get out of here,” Green said.

    “You just hope it gets to the point to where these leagues can work with legislators to implement laws, because that’s the only thing that’s going to ultimately correct the issue, is if you know something real is going to happen to you,” he said.

    After Milwaukee’s 128-111 win, the Bucks said in a statement: “Under the referee’s discretion, we are investigating the situation and we are conferring with the NBA.”

    The 32-year-old Green scored two points and had six rebounds and seven assists in the loss. He is averaging nine points, six rebounds and seven assists for the reigning NBA champions.

    Two weeks ago, Green was fined $25,000 by the NBA “for directing obscene language toward a fan.” The situation occurred during the fourth quarter of Golden State’s loss at Dallas on Nov. 29.

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    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • NFL: Bills’ catch vs Vikings should have been overturned

    NFL: Bills’ catch vs Vikings should have been overturned

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    ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Vikings beat the Bills in overtime. If not for an officiating mistake, they might have won in regulation.

    The NFL’s senior vice president of officiating acknowledged there was a breakdown in the instant replay process after a pivotal play late in Minnesota’s 33-30 win over Buffalo on Sunday.

    Gabe Davis’ 20-yard reception along the sideline with 24 seconds left in regulation should have been reviewed before the Bills ran another play, Walt Anderson told a pool reporter after the game. The catch happened during Buffalo’s five-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Tyler Bass hitting a 29-yard field goal to force overtime with 2 seconds left.

    “Even though it happens fast and Buffalo hurries to the line of scrimmage for the next play, if the replay official can’t confirm that it was a catch on that long of a completed pass, we should stop play to ensure it was a catch,” Anderson said.

    On replays, it appeared that Davis did not secure the ball while falling out of bounds.

    “It would have been reversed to an incomplete pass because he did not maintain control of the ball after he hit the ground and the ball touched the ground out of bounds,” Anderson said.

    Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said the catch happened in front of him on the sideline. He was unable to challenge the ruling because it occurred in the final 2 minutes, and said he did not get an explanation from officials.

    “I didn’t think it was a catch,” O’Connell said. “In that mode, that needs to be something they need to review from up top, or possibly New York. We didn’t get any clarification on that. I did ask.”

    Anderson said league officials will review the video and audio from the game to determine why there wasn’t a replay.

    “I’ll have to find out from the replay official exactly what he didn’t feel like he saw to stop the game,” Anderson said.

    O’Connell said there might have been another officiating error in overtime that could have affected the result. He questioned whether the Bills had 12 defenders on the field when Minnesota running back Dalvin Cook was tackled for a 3-yard loss on first-and-goal from the Bills 2.

    The Vikings kicked what turned out to be the winning field goal three plays later, but a touchdown on the opening drive of overtime would have ended the game without giving the Bills’ offense a chance to respond.

    Anderson credited replay officials for making the right decision on two key plays in the final minute of regulation.

    He said replays showed Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins’ shoulder was down before he extended the ball over the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the half-yard line with 49 seconds remaining.

    On the next play, Bills quarterback Josh Allen muffed the snap, which was recovered by Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks for a touchdown.

    Anderson said replays clearly showed Allen losing the ball, and officials properly stayed with the call on the field — a Vikings touchdown — after various camera angles were unable to confirm who made the recovery.

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    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP—NFL

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  • Astros burst ahead, beat Phillies 5-2, tie World Series 1-1

    Astros burst ahead, beat Phillies 5-2, tie World Series 1-1

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    HOUSTON — Framber Valdez made a five-run lead stand up after Houston’s lightning first-inning burst, Alex Bregman homered and the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 Saturday night to tie the World Series at one game apiece.

    Just like in Game 1, the Astros rushed to a 5-0 lead. Unlike ace Justin Verlander in the opener, Valdez and Houston held on.

    Valdez rebounded from a pair of poor outings in last year’s Series to pitch shutout ball into the seventh, and the bullpen survived a couple of jams to close things out.

    “Framber did a great job,” said Jose Altuve, who broke out of a 4-for-37 postseason slump with three hits. “Just amazing performance by him and our bullpen, as well.”

    Altuve, Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez all doubled as Houston took a two-run lead four pitches in against Zack Wheeler. A throwing error by shortstop Edmundo Sosa allowed another run in the first, and Bregman added a two-run homer in the fifth.

    A day after coming back for a 6-5 win in 10 innings, Philadelphia tried to rally in this one, too.

    With the Phillies trailing by four runs, Kyle Schwarber hit a drive deep down the right-field line with a man on in the eighth against Rafael Montero that was originally ruled a two-run homer by right field line umpire James Hoye.

    First base umpire Tripp Gibson at first signaled for umps to conference and the call was reversed on a crew chief review when it was determined the ball was just to the foul side of the pole.

    Schwarber, who led the NL with 46 home runs this season and added three more in the playoffs, then hit a long drive that was caught at the right field wall.

    Ryan Pressly finished the combined six-hitter, giving up a run on an error by first baseman Yuli Gurriel on Brandon Marsh’s grounder.

    Following the split in Houston, the Series resumes Monday night when Citizens Bank Park hosts the Series for the first time since 2009.

    Of 61 previous Series tied 1-1, the Game 2 winner went on to the title 31 times — but just four of the last 14.

    After struggling to a 19.29 ERA in a pair of Series starts in last year’s six-game loss to Atlanta, Valdez pitched with polish and poise. His cheeks glistening with sweat, the 28-year-old left-hander struck out nine and walked three, allowing four hits in 6 1/3 innings.

    He blew by batters with a fastball averaging 95.6 mph and baffled them with his curve, which got six of his strikeouts — three of them looking. Unusually, he changed his glove and spikes mid-outing.

    When the Phillies put two runners on for the only time against him in the sixth, Valdez struck out Game 1 star J.T. Realmuto with high heat, then got Bryce Harper to bounce a first-pitch sinker into an inning-ending double play.

    “His sinker was fantastic. His curveball was pretty good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “His putaway pitches were good.”

    Thomson didn’t take issue with Valdez rubbing his palm — social media was abuzz, wondering if there was some substance there.

    “The umpires check these guys after almost every inning and if there’s something going on MLB will take care of it,” Thomson said. “We saw it the last time he started, too.”

    Nick Castellanos led off the Phillies seventh with a double and Valdez left after a groundout advanced the runner. Montero allowed Jean Segura’s sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track.

    A day after the deflating defeat, the Astros came out swinging and became the first team to open a Series game with three straight extra-base hits.

    Altuve lined a sinker into left, and Peña drove a curveball into the left-field corner for a 1-0 lead.

    Alvarez fouled off a pitch and drove a slider high off the 19-foot wall in left.

    “I was pulling for a fourth, actually,” Baker said. “Try to score as many runs as you can. Because you know Wheeler is one of the tougher guys in baseball.”

    Wheeler should have escaped down just 2-0, but shortstop Edmundo Sosa bounced his throw to first on Gurriel’s three-hopper for an error, the ball glancing off the mitt of first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

    Bregman, healthy after two injury-hampered seasons, hit a two-run homer to left in the fifth when Wheeler left a slider over the middle of the plate. Bregman has six career Series homers and three this postseason with nine RBIs.

    Wheeler gave up five runs — four earned — six hits and three walks in five innings, a day after Aaron Nola struggled.

    “I think everybody deserves a poor start every once in a while,” Thomson said. “Those guys have been so good for us for so long, and I fully expect them to come back and be ready to go and pitch well for us.”

    BIG DIFFERENCE

    Houston won 106 games during the season and Philadelphia 87, the second-highest win disparity in the Series behind the 93-win Chicago White Sox beat the 116-win Cubs in 1906.

    UP NEXT

    RHP Noah Syndergaard will start Game 3 for the Phillies and RHP Lance McCullers Jr. for the Astros. Phillies LHP Ranger Suárez will take the mound for Game 4, and likely LHP Cristian Javier for Houston.

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    More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Questionable roughing the passer calls raise more questions

    Questionable roughing the passer calls raise more questions

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    TAMPA, Fla. — Can’t touch this.

    Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett found out the hard way when he sacked Tom Brady and got flagged for roughing the passer in the fourth quarter of Atlanta’s 21-15 loss at Tampa Bay on Sunday.

    The questionable penalty that benefited Brady and the Buccaneers raised more concerns about interpretations of the rule. It was the second straight week referee Jerome Boger made the critical call late in the game on a play that didn’t seem to warrant a flag.

    Last week, it helped the Buffalo Bills on a drive that ended with Tyler Bass kicking a 21-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-20.

    This time, it allowed the Buccaneers to extend the final drive and eventually run out the clock.

    Protecting quarterbacks has always been a point of emphasis for the NFL. That was magnified after Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was taken off the field on a stretcher following a violent hit in a game against Cincinnati on Sept. 29. Tagovailoa sustained a concussion when 6-foot-3, 340-pound Bengals defensive tackle Josh Tupou threw him backward, slamming his head into the turf.

    Tupou wasn’t penalized for sacking Tagovailoa. Neither Josh Allen nor Brady were injured on the hits Boger called roughing.

    “What I had was the defender grabbed the quarterback while he was still in the pocket, and unnecessarily throwing him to the ground,” Boger told a pool reporter after the game. “That is what I was making my decision based upon.”

    Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles, of course, understood the decision.

    “I saw that one being called. I saw it against Tua when he got hit, and in the London game this morning,” Bowles said. “I think they are starting to crack down on some of the things, slinging backs. I don’t know. Right now, the way they are calling (it), I think a lot of people would’ve gotten that call.”

    In the NFL rulebook, it states: “Any physical acts against a player who is in a passing posture (i.e. before, during, or after a pass) which, in the referee’s judgment, are unwarranted by the circumstances of the play will be called as fouls.”

    The rulebook also notes: “When in doubt about a roughness call or potentially dangerous tactic against the quarterback, the referee should always call roughing the passer.”

    Many analysts, including former quarterbacks, disagreed with Boger’s call.

    “The league office has to get that fixed,” Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy said on NBC’s “Football Night in America” pregame show. “If you cannot tackle the quarterback, it’s going to be impossible to play defense.”

    Robert Griffin III tweeted: “The Falcons got ROBBED. Hitting the QB hard does not equal Roughing the Passer even if it’s Tom Brady.”

    Despite the perception that the 45-year-old Brady gets special treatment, the seven-time Super Bowl champion ranks 41st with .14 roughing calls per game since 2009. This was the first time Brady was the beneficiary of a roughing penalty this season. He only got one last year.

    Jarrett was visibly upset about the penalty and refused to talk to reporters after the game. Falcons coach Arthur Smith wouldn’t criticize the officials.

    “Obviously from my vantage point, it looked like it was a bad call,” Falcons cornerback Casey Hayward Jr. said. “But that’s why you put the refs out there to make these calls. They pay these guys to make those calls. It looked bad (from) my standpoint – but like I said – I was on the back end. They put these guys there to make those calls.”

    Nobody wants to see any player endure a hit like the one that sent Tagovailoa to the hospital. But there’s a difference between protecting quarterbacks and punishing defenders for playing football.

    Finding a balance is the NFL’s dilemma.

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    Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robmaaddi

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    More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP—NFL

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