Tyrone Crawford on roughing the passer penalty: ‘I don’t know any other way to hit’

Let’s just go ahead and do it: Put flags on the waist of every quarterback in the NFL

If Dallas Cowboys’ defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford’s hit on Russell Wilson Sunday is going to earn a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty, professional football has been altered from what most fans expect to see.

It happened on the Seattle Seahawks’ first drive of the game. On 3rd and 5, Crawford sprang free and layed a hit on Wilson who threw an incomplete pass. Instead of being forced into a three-and-out punt, Seattle had the ball 10 more plays before punting. Seattle won the game 24-13. The official told Crawford he put the weight of his body on Wilson

“Whatever that means,” Crawford said. “I don’t know any other way to hit. I thought he still had the ball. I’m going to hit the quarterback they way I’ve always hit him. If they’re trying to take that much away from us … it is what it is. I’m going to hit like that regardless.”

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones argued flatly that it was an incorrect call.

“That was not roughing the passer under the existing rules. That just was not roughing the passer,” he said. “Actually, on review, you will see that he was attempting to finesse the tackle. There’s no question he was finessing it. He was in position to really put his weight and deliver a blow. There’s no question he was finessing the tackle.”

As Hall of Famer Troy Aikman said during Sunday’s broadcast, most of the league’s quarterbacks don’t like the extreme lengths the NFL has gone to protect them. The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers said earlier this week that it’s not good for the game.

Is it hurting the game?

“Yeah, it is,” Crawford said. “I’m not going to let it change the way I play. I don’t think any D lineman will. You miss tackles that way, you play timid, you play slow.”

Crawford said he slowed up on a different play in the game because “I had that thought in my head.”

“I can’t let that do it to me again,” he said. “These quarterbacks are shifty and they can get away from you if you don’t hit a quarterback the way you hit any other player. I’m going to continue to hit like that and if they’re going to flag me, they’re going to flag me and if they’re going to fine me, they’re going to fine me. I’ll probably end up battling the league because of that.”

Crawford is likely to appeal the penalty so that he doesn’t have to pay a fine. But that won’t do the Cowboys (or fans of tackle football) any good.

“To me personally, that was a clean hit,” Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith said. “I had a third down stop in the fourth quarter but any time you’re going against the quarterback you’ve got to balance being aggressive, because not only is it a 15-yard penalty, but you get a fine.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 8:57 PM.