The Sports Xchange

St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher, a member of NFL Competition Committee, doesn’t see rules changing to project quarterbacks on zone-read plays.

Fisher was responding to the most recent debate after Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs’ hit to the knees of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford.

“The Committee talks about this every year,” Fisher told reporters Thursday. “We have rules in the rule book that are very specific. If the quarterback is in a throwing position, he gets protection. But in the event that the ball is handed off, at that instant, there’s no telling whether or not he is a runner or not, so he loses that protection.

“So, I don’t see that changing. You get the complaints in opposition from those that are running the read option, and those that (don’t) understand the rule probably a little bit more. There’s obviously a push to protect the quarterback, but you have to give the defensive players a chance. All of the quarterback has to do is pull the ball and he’s a runner. How’s the defender going to know if the ball is pulled or not?

“The quarterback gets plenty of protection in the pocket and he picks up protection out of the pocket, he’s got protection down the field on his slides. The read-option posture, I think everybody is clear as to the rule. It didn’t look right, but the Bradford hit, it was a legal hit according to the rules.”

Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, confirmed Monday that Suggs’ hit should not have been called a penalty because the “quarterback has an option.”

Suggs was penalized for coming in low and hitting Bradford on a play in which Bradford handed off to running back Darren Sproles in the Eagles’ 40-17 preseason win over the Ravens last Saturday night.

Blandino said the roughing-the-passer penalty that was given to Suggs was not the right call as quarterbacks are not protected in that situation.

Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly disputed Blandino’s claims, saying Bradford was not running a zone-read play when he was hit by Suggs.

“It was just a handoff,” Kelly said Monday. “Not every shotgun run is a zone-read play. We didn’t run any zone reads. We don’t run as much zone read as everyone thinks we do. I thought the interpretation on the field was correct.

“(Blandino) said it was a read-option play, but it wasn’t a read-option play. I know our quarterbacks can get hit on a read-option play, but not every run we have is a read-option run. We run sweep, power, counter, trap — all of those things out of the gun.”