AP

FOX analyst Troy Aikman didn’t like the roughing penalty referee Carl Cheffers called on Tyrone Crawford on Sunday. The Cowboys defensive lineman didn’t like it either.

“It’s the way the rules are now, and if we’ve got to figure it out, then we’ve got to figure it out,” Crawford said Tuesday. “I do feel like they should have some long, hard discussions about that and maybe try and change it up so it’s not only in the quarterback’s favor, so we can still play football out there.”

Crawford’s hit on Russell Wilson led to a third-down incompletion. It also led to a 15-yard penalty that extended the Seahawks’ first drive.

Cheffers ruled Crawford landed with his body weight on Wilson, one of 13 roughing the passer penalties in the NFL in Week Three, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN.

“It’s hard for me to say I can do anything different in that situation,” Crawford said. “You know Russ is not an easy guy to get down to the ground. When you tackle him, you’ve got to tackle him. You’ve got to wrap hard. You’ve got to get him to the ground. If you play any more timid than that, you’re going to miss a lot of tackles. I’ve been there before where I was thinking about the fines. I can’t let that happen with my football play now. I can’t think about the fines I may get for hitting the quarterback or what not.”

Crawford said the NFL is asking defensive linemen to go against their instincts, against what coaches have taught them for a lifetime, against the laws of physics.

“You grow up hitting and hitting like going full speed. You know one way to do it,” said Crawford, who is in his seventh season. “When you’re doing something your whole life, yeah, it’s really hard to change, especially now at this point in your career and at that time. When you see a sack, you go usually even harder. When you see quarterback, you go even harder to get to him, to try and get there before the ball is thrown. To try and pull off at like literally the last millisecond is kind of hard.

“I do understand some of the rules that they have going for the protection of players, but I can’t lie to myself and say that I agree with that one because it’s just really hard to do. We’ve been learning something our whole life. Yeah, it’s definitely against our instincts to pull off. I can’t really explain it any better than that. I don’t want to talk bad about the league and what they’re trying to do, because they’re definitely trying to protect us, and I understand. I used to hit with my head, and that’s all I would hit with, and I considered myself a pretty good tackler. But every since they brought in the rule about not hitting with your head, which I completely understand, my tackling hasn’t been as good. There’s just different things that, if it affects you, you can’t let it affect you, and I guess you’re going to have to do it the right way if they make one way the right way. Again, I think they should look over this rule and definitely consider everybody and think about how they would go about, because it’s definitely a hard rule to follow.”

The competition committee has the rule on its agenda for a regularly scheduled conference call next week, and the league’s former head of officials, Mike Pereira, expects a change in how roughing the passer is officiated.

“I don’t see it being good,” Crawford said of the rule. “That’s why I think if they take a look and they picture themselves in some of the same situations, and they take in everything that can possibly happen, I think they come to change the rule. We’ll have to see.”

And if nothing changes?

“If they do decide to stay with the rule, then we need to figure out a way to . . . I guess push the quarterback down on the ground or something,” Crawford said.