rest - http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...sser-penaltiesThe NFL's competition committee is scheduled to speak on a conference call next week about the proliferation of roughing the passer penalties, two sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
The sources said the committee is concerned about the frequency of these penalties and has voiced those concerns to the league office.
"There's some concern that the officials are going a little bit too far with some of these calls," one of the sources said.
Through three weeks, there have been 34 roughing the passer calls. Through three games last year, there had been 16, and through three games in 2016, there were 20.
Part of the issue is that the league this year made a "point of emphasis" of a 23-year-old rule that prohibits defenders from landing on the quarterback with their full body weight or driving him into the ground with excessive force. The NFL says that rule has been on the books since 1995 (Rule 12 , Section 2, Article 9) and that it made it a point of emphasis this season after hearing complaints from coaching staffs that it wasn't being enforced. The competition committee issued the following recommendation this offseason: