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2 Washington players fined for illegal hits vs. Giants in Week 2

Washington Football Team defensive end Chase Young was flagged in Week 2 after coming down hard on the chest of New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.

Officials called roughing the passer, which was the correct interpretation of the rule even though Young did not appear to be malicious in nature.

From Rule 12 (Player Conduct), Section 2 (Personal Fouls), Article 11 (Roughing the Passer):

(a.) Roughing will be called if, in the Referee’s judgment, a pass rusher clearly should have known that the ball had already left the passer’s hand before contact was made; pass rushers are responsible for being aware of the position of the ball in passing situations; the Referee will use the release of the ball from the passer’s hand as his guideline that the passer is now fully protected; once a pass has been released by a passer, a rushing defender may make direct contact with the passer only up through the rusher’s first step after such release (prior to second step hitting the ground); thereafter the rusher must be making an attempt to avoid contact and must not continue to “drive through” or otherwise forcibly contact the passer; incidental or inadvertent contact by a player who is easing up or being blocked into the passer will not be considered significant.

(b.) A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as “stuffing” a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball, even if the rusher makes his initial contact with the passer within the one-step limitation provided for in (a) above. When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (e.g., during or just after throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to fall to the side of the quarterback’s body, or to brace his fall with his arms to avoid landing on the quarterback with all or most of his body weight.

The NFL didn’t back off in the aftermath, fining Young $15,450 for the hit.

In addition to Young, the league also fined Washington offensive tackle Sam Cosmi $6,692 for an unnecessary roughness penalty. Cosmi lowered his head to initiate helmet contact on a block.

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