One of the most influential owners in the NFL doesn't like the direction the league has taken with roughing the passer penalties.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday morning on 105.3 The Fan that the emphasis has changed the game "as much as any one [rule] I have seen make a change from our past."
The NFL has stressed roughing the passer penalties through the first three weeks, with an emphasis on players landing with their full weight on the quarterback.
NFL Network's Judy Battista reported that the competition committee is currently uncomfortable with the roughing the passer calls. Battista added that members of the committee are unsure if anything will change with the rule emphasis or the way it is being officiated this season.
Jerry Jones is not on the competition committee. His son, Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones, is on the committee.
Jerry Jones said Tuesday the NFL should be different than the game played in college or high school.
"The way I see our future is, I see a real serious emphasis on youth football, amateur football," Jones said. "I see it reflected at the high school level. ... I see a collegiate game that certainly has a lot of finesse in it, but is a great game and makes these kinds of adjustments we're talking about.
"But when it comes to pro football, to use a boxing term, that's when you put the 6-ounce gloves on. That's when you don't want to fight with those 10-ounce gloves or you don't fight with those headgears. ... You're paid a lot of money to go out and incur those type situations that have more risks in them."
Jones also said following Sunday's loss to the Seahawks that Cowboys pass rusher Tyrone Crawford was the victim of a bad roughing call when he was "was attempting to finesse the tackle."
Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, who has been at the center of roughing controversies through three weeks, said on Sunday that the NFL is "getting soft" with the penalties.
"It's real important that pro football distinguish itself as a very physical game relative to the game at college, relative to the game at high school and amateur," Jones said Tuesday. "That's very important. Now, where to find that balance, that's one thing. But when we get to a point in the future in time, you'll see pro football where they've put the 6-ounce gloves on and where the men are playing."
