If there was one blemish on Myles Garrett's dominant Week 1 performance against the Steelers, it would have been the roughing the passer penalty he took in the second quarter of Sunday's 21-21 tie.
Well, it turns out that the Cleveland Browns' star defensive end should not have been penalized at all.
That's what Al Riveron, the NFL's senior vice president of officiating, told NFL.com on Monday.
On a third-and-7 at the Cleveland 8-yard line, Ben Roethlisberger threw an incompletion and was hit by Garrett, who wrapped up the QB and landed on top of him, a violation of a rule that prohibits a defensive player from landing on the quarterback with most or all of his body weight.
With the ball moved to the 4-yard line, half the distance to the goal, James Conner scored on the ensuing play, running in for the first touchdown of his career and giving the Steelers a 6-0 lead with 11:19 remaining in the first half.
"The rule specifically says 'most, if not all, of your body weight,'" Riveron told the league's website. "So we want that player to make an effort. And the last three or four weeks, we have pulled extensive video to show the clubs exactly what we're talking about. ... Because the question we get all the time is, 'Well, what do you want our players to do?'
"Well, they have to not put the weight on the quarterback. And this one yesterday showed, even though there is some body weight on Ben, this is not what we would consider contact that rises to the level of a foul."
Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9, the rule which outlaws landing on the quarterback, has been around since 1995.
However, there was a slight change in the wording to the rule this season. Previously it had stated that "when tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (during or just after throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down and land on top of him with all or most of the defender's weight." The rule now states "throw him down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender's weight."
Despite the infraction, Garrett still went on to post two sacks, two forced fumbles, six tackles and reminded Pittsburgh that they'll have to contend with the 2017 first overall pick for probably another decade.