Competition committee wants to discuss increase in roughing passer calls

The NFL's competition committee is scheduled to speak on a conference call next week about the proliferation of roughing the passer penalties, two sources told ESPN on Tuesday.

The sources said the committee is concerned about the frequency of these penalties and has voiced those concerns to the league office.

"There's some concern that the officials are going a little bit too far with some of these calls," one of the sources said.

Through three weeks, there have been 34 roughing the passer calls. Through three games last year, there had been 16, and through three games in 2016, there had been 20.

Part of the issue is that the league this year made a "point of emphasis" of a 23-year-old rule that prohibits defenders from landing on the quarterback with their full body weight or driving him into the ground with excessive force. That specific call has been a big part of the early-season controversy, though part of the issue the competition committee has is with hits that don't fit into that category -- for example, the controversial Clay Matthews hit on Kirk Cousins in Week 2 that led to the Vikings' game-tying touchdown. That play was put on the league's weekly teaching tape as an example of how not to sack the quarterback, but one of the sources said the competition committee was confused about whether that penalty should have been called.

"I don't recall ever hearing the terms 'scoop and lift' before," the source said.

The sources both said they don't expect any major changes this season, though discussions are ongoing and could eventually include officials.