NFL EVP of Officiating Troy Vincent in Support of Roughing Penalties Despite Backlash

Don't expect the NFL to change its roughing the passer rules anytime soon.

Despite a number of controversial roughing calls last week, NFL executive vice president of officiating, Troy Vincent, appeared on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk) and said, "We support those calls."

The justification for Vincent and the NFL to keep the current rule in place—which offers officials the latitude to make a judgement call on potential roughing violations, and encourages them to err on the side of caution in protecting the quarterback—is fairly straightforward.

"If you don't have a quarterback, you don't have a chance to win," Vincent said Sunday.

Translation: People want to watch Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, not Case Keenum, Chad Henne or Tyler Huntley.

Vincent did say the league would be open to hearing proposals about making the infraction replay reviewable:

Two calls from last week stood out in particular. First, a crucial roughing call in the fourth quarter of the matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in which Grady Jarrett sacked Tom Brady in a routine manner on a third-down play. The roughing call gave the Bucs a first down, and they ran out the clock from there, denying the Falcons a comeback opportunity.

The second came in the first half of Monday's matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders. Chris Jones sacked Derek Carr and stripped him of the ball in the process of bringing him to the ground, but he was called for roughing for landing with his full weight on Carr. Jones appeared unable to brace his fall because one of his arms was cradling the football.

Both calls earned the ire of fans and pundits alike, but the NFL is clearly backing the referees in each incident.