Vikings Antwione Williams Was Fined For Roughing the Passer Against Jacksonville Jaguars

NFL fans don’t need more reasons to not like the new tackling rules that they have introduced, but this new rule seems to be the gift that keeps on giving.

Viking Antwione Williams was penalized and fined because of the confusing new rule and he, like us, are not happy about it.

The penalty came when Williams used his body to tackle the quarterback to the ground. While the rest of the world sees this as a normal hit, the NFL now says this is roughing the passer which is now a penalty and a fine.

I understand wanting to make playing safer for the longevity of the players health. That should always be the first concern. But since the NFL is not going back to the ways of old like we all want, they need to extremely clear on the new rule as to avoid future confusion.

But the lack of clarity on the new rule continues to show. SB Nation found that, “Through two full weeks of the preseason, as well as the Hall of Fame game, there have been 51 penalties because of the helmet rule, an average of 1.5 per game, mostly called against the defense (43).”

We may not like this rule but it is here to stay. Hopefully clarity comes through from the top and they can go back to playing and we can go back to watching with no confusion.

***Edit from J-Dog***

It wasn’t known until a little earlier how much exactly Ant was fined for the penalty, but Ian Rapoport had the amount on Twitter:

Quite the pretty penny for one of our backup linebackers.