Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones had a right to be upset with head referee Tra Blake after a second-quarter roughing-the-passer call in Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons.

Falcons QB Kirk Cousins threw an incomplete pass to WR Drake London on what would have been third down. The play from the Kansas City defense was erased when Jones was hit with an egregious 15-yard roughing the passer penalty. Jones did bring Cousins to the ground after the ball had left his hands, but he couldn’t see the ball because Falcons LT Jake Matthews had pushed Jones’ facemask up at a 70-degree angle. 

Check out the play down below:

Here’s a page straight from the NFL’s operations manual on roughing the passer penalties:

“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.”

By their definition, this play shouldn’t have been deemed roughing. Missed hands to the face penalty or not, this is exactly what officials want defenders to do. His momentum and the block from the O-Line carried him into Cousins. Jones didn’t land with his body weight on Cousins, rather he spun him down and minimized the risk of injury. 

Of course, Jones had some words for Blake after the play and had to be ushered away by his teammates. They didn’t want him to say something to draw a separate flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, just like Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase did last week against Kansas City. Thankfully, Jones didn’t use choice words in that moment, but he had every right to be upset with the call.

Cousins would go on to throw a 50-yard reception to TE Kyle Pitts, followed up by a rushing TD from Bijan Robinson. What should have been an opportunity for the Kansas City offense became a touchdown for the opposing offense.