Buffalo Bills corner Taron Johnson gets called for unnecessary roughness for routine tackle on Gerald Everett

The more you watch the NFL, the more impossible it becomes to play defense. On Saturday evening, Bills corner Taron Johnson was called for unnecessary roughness on what appeared to be a routine tackle on Chargers tight end Gerald Everett. The penalty sparked plenty of outrage on social media, as you might imagine.

This was called unnecessary roughness pic.twitter.com/0agP82jQf5

— Tanner Phifer (@TannerPhiferNFL) December 24, 2023

It was already hard enough to play defense in the National Football League. The league has been putting a strong emphasis on trying to eliminate helmet to helmet collisions as much as possible in recent years. Saturday night’s collision wasn’t even helmet to helmet.

The league has been more and more geared towards success on the offensive side of the football, and it is near impossible to play defense nowadays. Referees in the National Football League have gotten way, way too cautious when it comes to flagging physical contact and deeming it “unnecessary roughness.”

Officials have even been targeting routine plays for offensive players this season as well. When the Eagles were playing against the Washington Commanders on November 14th, running back D’Andre Swift was fined $9,857 for trucking Washington’s Percy Butler. It was called “unnecessary roughness”.

The NFL fined Eagles RB D'Andre Swift $9,857 for "Unnecessary Roughness" that occurred on Swift's truck over safety Percy Butler toward the end of last week's win at Washington Commanders: pic.twitter.com/xCxw0cLwhe

— Josh Tolentino (@JCTSports) November 5, 2023

The Buffalo Bills have been on a roll lately

The Bills have looked like one of the more dangerous teams in the NFL the past few weeks with the emergence of rookie running back James Cook. He erupted for 179 yards last week against the Dallas Cowboys, pushing his season total to 968 rushing yards ahead of Saturday night’s matchup between the Bills and Chargers. In the first half of the Chargers game, Cook became the first Bills player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since LeSean McCoy did it in 2017.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen rushed for his third touchdown of the day on Saturday, giving him 40 total touchdowns on the 2023 campaign. In doing so, he became the first player in NFL history with four consecutive 40 total touchdown seasons.

AFC Playoff Picture

As of Saturday night, the Buffalo Bills currently hold the No. 6 spot in the AFC (9-6 overall). If they win the rest of the games on their schedule (New England, Miami), they’ll be in the 2024 Playoffs.

Buffalo defeated the Chargers 24-22, after they kicked a game-winning field goal with 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter. There’s still plenty of scenarios left to be played out in the next few weeks, so we’ll have to see how it shakes out.

Bills safety Damar Hamlin was injured on Saturday night, but eventually returned to the contest.