Retired New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has certainly stayed involved with the game of football during his post-playing career.
Manning’s role on the ManningCast alongside his brother, Peyton, allows Eli to keep up with the current state of the game.
In Week 5, there were a few controversial roughing the passer penalties around the league — one coming on prime time during Monday Night Football.
Coincidentally, the ManningCast was not on the air this week.
The former two-time Super Bowl MVP chatted with Giants Wire this week on behalf of his partnership with Quaker and Feeding America. Naturally, we asked Manning about the controversial calls.
“I’m not against those calls being reviewable just because they are such huge calls. You know, sacks on the quarterback and what that can mean. A lot of times, it’s third down. Some can lead to a fumble or a sack-fumble. So you know, instead of it being fourth down and you’re punting, you give them 15 yards and a new set of downs,” Manning said. “It’s equivalent to a turnover basically if you’re calling the roughing the passer penalty.
“So, you know, I understand they’re trying to make the game safer and they are trying to protect the quarterback and I’m all for that. I always wanted that but I think they are making it very difficult on the referees to call that; to judge what is a safe hit and what’s too much. The driving into the ground, those are the ones that are difficult. I think when it’s a late hit, it’s easy to call and those are pretty standard. When there is that driving in or the tossing or the excessive tackling, it’s just harder to call.”
Manning’s involvement as a broadcaster and being a former quarterback gives him a unique perspective on the issue at hand.
Roughing the passer penalties will definitely be on the NFL competition committee’s list of issues to review during the offseason. If we continue to see calls the way we have this past weekend, they will remain a point of contention throughout the league.