Carl Cheffers defends roughing call: Chris Jones landed on Derek Carr with full body weight

Referee Carl Cheffers attempted to defend his controversial decision to flag Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones for roughing Raiders quarterback Derek Carr after Monday night’s game.

“The quarterback is in the pocket and he’s in a passing posture,” Cheffers said. “He gets full protection of all the aspects of what we give the quarterback in a passing posture. So, when he was tackled, my ruling was the defender landed on him with full body weight. The quarterback is protected from being tackled with full body weight. My ruling was roughing the passer for that reason.”

Cheffers said the fact that Jones stripped the ball from Carr and had already taken possession of the ball had nothing to do with the ruling.

“No, because he still gets passing protection until he can defend himself,” Cheffers said. “So, with him being in a passing posture and actually attempting to make a pass, he’s going to get full protection until the time when he actually can protect himself. The fact that the ball came out and was subsequently recovered by the defense is not relevant as far as the protection the quarterback gets.”

Cheffers said there was nothing about the play to review on replay, and that the New York officiating office was not involved in the decision.

Nothing about Cheffers’ explanation will be satisfying to the Chiefs, or to NFL fans who think roughing the passer penalties have gone decidedly overboard.