NFL fans have reacted furiously to a roughing the passer call during the New Orleans Saints win over the New York Giants.
The Saints saw off the Giants 26-14 at the Super Dome to snap a four-game losing streak.
New Orleans Saints defensive end Carl Granderson was penalized for roughing the passer against the Giants[/caption]
Granderson appeared to sack Jaxson Dart with a legal tackle – only for flags to fly[/caption]
But it was a play late in the fourth quarter that really got social media talking.
Chasing the game and in desperation mode, Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart dropped into the pocket.
Looking deep downfield, he was unable to get a throw away before being sacked by edge rusher Carl Granderson.
Granderson’s arms made contact with Dart’s shoulders as he hauled him to the ground.
He didn’t land with his weight on the rookie – but was controversially flagged for roughing the passer.
“Someone at the league office needs to give Granderson that sack back,” fumed one fan on X.
“We might actually have the worst roughing-the-passer call in NFL history against Saints DE Carl Granderson on Giants QB Jaxson Dart,” said another.
“NFL refs have a very difficult job. I get it. But calling this roughing the passer in the Giants-Saints game is why football fans are so fed up with the league’s officiating. Simply pathetic and inexplicable,” added a third.
“He was supposed to lay him down on a pillow,” joked a fourth.
“Agreed, clean sack, flagged anyway. Refs turning football into flag football with that call,” raged a fifth.
The call even nonplussed some analysts, with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt weighing in.
“The roughing call on New Orleans just now is the worst I can recall,” Van Pelt wrote.
“It was a sack. That’s it. Not allowed. Ridiculous.”
It was a messy outing for the Giants offense, who despite racing into a 14-3 lead were unable to come away with the win.
They turned the ball over five times, racking up three fumbles and two interceptions.
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“Yeah, those [turnovers] suck,” Dart told the media after the game.
“Obviously, you don’t win many games when you have five and you don’t get any on the other side of the ball.
“I felt like we had a lot of opportunities where we were just moving the ball down the field, and then we would just hurt ourselves.
“In the NFL, every team’s a good team, every team has talent, and I just felt like we just gave the game away by those turnovers.”
Dart was messy in his second NFL start, with the Giants committing five turnovers[/caption]
