re: What Did Kenny Vacarro Do?

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PASS LEAVING PASSER’S HAND; ONE-STEP RULE
(1) 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.

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HITS TO PASSER’S HEAD AND USE OF HELMET AND FACEMASK
(3) In covering the passer position, Referees will be particularly alert to fouls in which defenders
impermissibly use the helmet and/or facemask to hit the passer, or use hands, arms, or other parts of
the body to hit the passer forcibly in the head or neck area (see also the other unnecessary-roughness
rules covering these subjects). A defensive player must not use his helmet against a passer who is in
a defenseless posture for example, (a) forcibly hitting the passer’s head or neck area with the helmet
or facemask, regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the passer by
encircling or grasping him, or (b) lowering the head and making forcible contact with the top/crown or
forehead/”hairline” parts of the helmet against any part of the passer’s body. This rule does not
OFFICIAL NFL PLAYING RULES 75prohibit incidental contact by the mask or non-crown parts of the helmet in the course of a
conventional tackle on a passer.

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