Even if many NFL fans don’t like it, most football die-hards understand and accept that the league now bends over backwards to protect quarterbacks. Saturday’s roughing the passer penalty on Texans pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. against Patrick Mahomes was a bad call and required some acting from Mahomes to draw the flag. But everyone still recognizes this as a part of how pro football works now: the bigger the star, especially at quarterback, the more protection the player receives. And that’s fine. As long as everyone plays by the same rules. Except that’s not always the case. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, the soon-to-be three-time MVP, did not receive the same protection from the officials or a critical voice on the CBS broadcast on a blatant late hit in Sunday’s Baltimore loss to the Buffalo Bills. And it is therefore worth monitoring how the NFL and its partner networks handle similar situations in the future, beginning with Sunday’s NFC and AFC Championship Games between the Commanders and Eagles and Chiefs and Bills, respectively. Because if Jackson is not receiving this protection and the benefit of the doubt, what is going on here? The play happened with 8:46 remaining in the second quarters of Sunday’s 27-25 Bills win. Jackson escaped up the right side for 11 yards and was turning out of bounds. Bills defensive lineman Ed Oliver made an impressive hustle play and at first grabbed Jackson’s jersey with his left hand. But as Jackson stepped out of bounds, Oliver let go of Jackson’s jersey and then re-engaged with Jackson, slapping his right arm around the quarterback and tackling Jackson hard to the ground on Baltimore’s sideline. Play-by-play man Jim Nantz and analyst Tony Romo immediately pointed out that the hit seemed late, but the officiating crew incredibly did not throw a flag. Then, to make matters worse, CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore, a former NFL official, covered for the referees on the field. “Ya know, I see Oliver that grabs him right before he’s out of bounds,” Steratore said. “So they’re allowing him to finish the tackle there as opposed to a hit that happened or is initiated after he’s out of bounds, fellas.” Romo didn’t buy it. “I mean, I feel like that was late,” he said. “I do, too,” Nantz said. “I mean, he’s too precious,” Romo said. “You can’t allow that to happen. He goes down, that changes everything so fast.” Give credit to Nantz and Romo for calling out the glaring officiating mistake when they saw it. Because if there is anything worse than the officials not protecting Jackson on that play, it is Steratore — a prominent voice of a league partner and a former official himself — trying to clean up the mistake with that ridiculous excuse of an explanation. The NFL’s business is booming, but it compromises the integrity of the sport when officials do not uniformly apply the rulebook. And it further damages football’s integrity when a voice like Steratore’s is so prominently involved in softening or misrepresenting a critical situation to the general public that it is difficult not to consider potential bias. The NFL rulebook states in its section on “Unnecessary Roughness” that “defensive players must make an effort to avoid contact” with a runner “when he is out of bounds.” “Players on defense are responsible for knowing when a runner has crossed the boundary line, except in doubtful cases where he might step on a boundary line and continue parallel with it,” it adds. Jackson was clearly out of bounds on the play. Oliver made no effort to avoid contact. And Oliver made forcible contact after Jackson stepped out of bounds. Oliver also appeared to use the banned hip-drop tackle technique to bring Jackson down on the play. The NFL typically defaults to fining players later for this infraction rather than throwing the flag live. Still, that would make two penalties overlooked on the same play. There’s another reason this officiating oversight and Steratore’s explanation were jaw-dropping. Late in the 2022 season’s AFC Championship Game, the Chiefs and Bengals were tied 20 apiece, and Mahomes scrambled for a first down to the right sideline. Right as Mahomes stepped out of bounds, Bengals pass rusher Joseph Ossai hit Mahomes hard in the back and knocked him to the ground. Flags flew. Everyone knew it was a late hit, even though it was a bang-bang play and Mahomes was no more out of bounds than Jackson was on Sunday. Steratore was on the CBS call. “Yeah, guys, on this play you can clearly see that Patrick Mahomes has both feet out in the white as he’s getting hit,” Steratore said. “This is a late hit out of bounds on the play.” Harrison Butker made the ensuing field goal, and the Chiefs went on to win their second Super Bowl in three years. This isn’t about taking anything away from Mahomes and the Chiefs. They’ve earned their greatness. This is about the league’s officials and their rights-holders: stop telling the general public that this kind of mistake is something other than what it is. Get it right, or call it out as being wrong so the same thing doesn’t happen to Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts — or even Mahomes — this Sunday.