Dallas Turner hit Lamar Jackson clean, but ref threw a flag anyway

PublishedNovember 9, 2025 5:57 PM EST•UpdatedNovember 9, 2025 5:57 PM EST

I would hate to be a defender in today’s NFL.

Early in Sunday’s NFL action, the Ravens visited the Vikings, Baltimore winning 27-19. However, three of the points from the Ravens came after one of the most ridiculous calls of the week.

Defensive end Dallas Turner, a first-round pick in 2024, lived up to his billing as the team’s best pass rusher. He brought down Lamar Jackson, a hard task for pretty much every opposing defense. Turner brought him to the ground in the most textbook fashion possible.

But the referees found a problem with the play and called roughing the passer.

Bro. What in the world are we doing?

What is Turner supposed to do there? Levitate over Jackson and not land on top of him? Ask the quarterback to just lie down and end the play? Keep Jackson upright and just wait for the refs to blow the whistle?

I miss the days when guys could just make tackles and not worry about incurring the most unnecessary penalties in the history of the sport.

Now, does the play affect the outcome of the game? Probably not. The Ravens were trailing, the half ended on the next play (a converted field goal attempt), and they ended up winning by eight. As for the outcome of the game, it was not super consequential.

But it continues to drive home the point that defenders are left with an impossible task when bringing down a quarterback: tackle, but do so in a fashion that Kevin Hart would approve of.

The NFL really needs to fix this problem.