KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs Kingdom was rocking during Monday Night Football at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, especially after a questionable call was made that changed the momentum of the game.
In the second quarter, the Chiefs had just scored cutting the Las Vegas Raiders lead to 10 when defensive end Chris Jones stripped Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. In the replay, you can see Jones landed on Carr while also coming up with the ball. The video shows the ball coming loose and Jones cleanly recovering it, but a flag was thrown and a roughing the passer call was made.
"It was shocking, I had text messages and tweets and people sending all kind of stuff to me all night long after that occurred," said Bill Maas, former Chiefs defensive lineman.
Mass was the Chiefs first-round draft pick in 1984. He lived up to his first-round status being named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Maas also appeared in two Pro Bowls in his nine years playing for the Chiefs.
"You had a fumble recovery and taken away from him a sack, a strip fumble and a fumble recovery. Just for statistics alone for Chris Jones, that's detrimental but as a team as a whole, that could have swung the game," said Maas.
Mass told KSHB 41 that penalties like the one called on Jones in primetime, didn't happen when he was playing.
"They weren't, they didn't exist, and I think that's why you're seeing the longevity of the quarterbacks. You know, it's a passer friendly offense, the quarterback is protected," said Maas.
The questionable call on Jones was the second of its kind in two days. The first came on Sunday when a roughing the passer call was made after a sack on Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady by Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Grady Jarrett.
"I totally laughed, I'm like are you kidding me, I mean, you know you can't hit him in the head, you can't hit him in the knees, wrap him around the middle and that's what the guy did, and they took him down," said Maas.
Maas said the NFL is likely putting more of an emphasis on roughing the passer calls following Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's concussion.
The NFL Competition Committee will discuss roughing the passer at the end of the season.
"I don't think anything's going to come of it, I think there's going to be a lot of rhetoric and I think there will be some statements here and there and some emphasis and there's probably going to be some additional teaching for the crews on how they view sacking the quarterback," said Maas.
