How Commanders Felt About Controversial Roughing Penalty Vs. Patriots

FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots fell to the Commanders, 20-17, at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon and even though Washington came away with the victory, there was one call the organization was not happy with.

With the Patriots leading 14-10 at 11:18 of the third quarter, Commanders rookie defensive end K.J Henry recorded his first sack — or so he thought.

This is the worst roughing call I’ve ever seen. Negated a sack-fumble for rookie KJ Henry. Would have been his first career sack.

Do better, @NFL. This is a joke. pic.twitter.com/MMtgYj7PnA

— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) November 5, 2023

Instead of the 24-year-old Clemson product sacking Patriots quarterback Mac Jones for a loss, he was called for roughing the passer, and the Commanders were assessed a 15-yard penalty.

Commanders head coach Ron Rivera was at a loss for words when he spoke to reporters following the win.

“It was full body weight,” Rivera said solemnly with his hands on hips, not adding any additional context.

Referee Adrian Hill spoke with Professional Football Writer Association’s Nicki Jhabvala after the game to explain the call.

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“I was the calling official and the call was roughing the passer due to full body weight,” Hill told Jhabvala according to the pool report provided by the team. “The ruling on the field was that the defender came down with forceable contact, chest-to-chest. He didn’t perform one of those acts to remove most of that body weight — a gator roll or a clear to the side when he was coming in. He came down directly with that force on the player, so the category was full body weight.”

Commanders quarterback Sam Howell did not agree with Hill’s analysis of the play.

“K.J. came up with a sack,” Howell said. “I don’t know what you guys thought about the penalty or something like that but we thought it was … we didn’t think it was a great call.”

If the play was ruled a sack, the Commanders would have probably forced the Patriots to punt but instead, the call kept the drive alive for the Patriots.

The Patriots were unable to move the ball forward, but Chad Ryland kicked a 43-yard field goal for the 17-10 lead.

The Commanders bounced back, with Howell connecting with Jahan Dotson for a 33-yard touchdown on the next possession and Joey Slye capping the scoring off with a 30-yard field goal.

With the win, Washington improved to 4-5 on the season and snapped a two-game losing streak to New England. The Patriots had previously beaten the Commanders in 2015 and 2019. Washington holds the all-time record 7-5 over New England.