'Most Un-American Call in History': The Roughing Penalty That Erased a Packers Pick and Broke the Internet

The interception happened. Then the flag erased it.

With 7:44 left in the fourth quarter on Sunday Night Football, Green Bay led Dallas 23-7 at Lambeau Field. Dak Prescott threw toward Jonathan Mingo, Carrington Valentine stepped in front of it and picked it off — what would have been Prescott's third interception of the night. Then the flag came in: Lukas Van Ness was called for roughing the passer, the interception was wiped out, and Dallas kept the ball. The Packers still won 23-13, but that one call is the moment the whole internet is still arguing about.

What happened on the Van Ness play?

Van Ness pushed Prescott with two hands after Prescott released the ball. Replays described by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel showed the push was not high and did not appear to carry much force, even though it knocked Prescott off his feet. Officials called it a late hit for roughing the passer, giving Dallas 15 yards instead of giving Green Bay the ball. Van Ness put his hands on his head, and the Lambeau crowd let the officials hear it.

It was not an isolated flag. Green Bay was called for three roughing-the-passer penalties in the fourth quarter alone. Six plays after the Van Ness call, on the same drive, Karl Brooks was flagged for roughing Prescott as well. The final roughing call came with about a minute left, when Evan Williams blitzed, tried to bat down a pass, and hit Prescott up near the helmet on the way down. Dallas scored two plays later on a Prescott touchdown pass to Ryan Flournoy.

What was the final score and how did the game play out?

Green Bay beat Dallas 23-13 to win its third straight game and improve to 4-2, while Dallas fell to 2-4. The Packers built a 17-0 halftime lead on Jordan Love's 9-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Golden, a Trey Smack field goal, and a 1-yard Love touchdown run. Love finished 23-of-41 for 276 yards with one passing touchdown, one interception and a rushing touchdown. Golden had six catches for 104 yards and a score.

Prescott finished 34-of-54 for 258 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions — the two that counted, by Evan Williams and Brandon Cisse in the second quarter. Javonte Williams scored Dallas's first touchdown on a 1-yard run in the third quarter. Both teams finished with 11 penalties: Green Bay for 96 yards, Dallas for 108 yards.

Why is this call blowing up?

Because the reaction was instant, loud, and came from people who usually defend quarterbacks. NFL analyst Brett Kollmann called it "the most un-American roughing the passer call in history." Former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel called it "the worst roughing the passer call I've ever seen in my entire life." The Journal Sentinel reported that Hall of Famers Charles Woodson and Kurt Warner were among those calling out the call on social media.

Packers beat writer Ryan Wood wrote that the Van Ness play was "a lot of nothing." After the Brooks flag, The Athletic's Matt Schneidman was left guessing what drew it, and Wood argued Brooks hit Prescott immediately after the throw, did not contact his helmet and did not land with his full body weight. Fans piled on with a familiar demand: make roughing the passer reviewable.

The broadcast booth became part of the story too. Fans criticized Cris Collinsworth for not pushing back harder on the flags, with several posts asking why he seemed to move on so quickly after replays that left most viewers baffled.

What did the Packers say afterward?

Head coach Matt LaFleur did not use the win as an excuse. He said Green Bay has to clean up the penalties, noting the team talks consistently about the rules and studies film from across the league. "You can't hit the quarterback late, you get a step," LaFleur said. "You can't hit him high. And if you do hit him within the timing, you can't land on him."

Brooks was candid about the difficulty for defensive linemen. He said he was one step away and only half a body on Prescott, without full body weight, and added: "It's tricky... There's a lot of holdings that don't get called, but anything we do I feel like we get called." He also said the flags would not make him slow down or overthink his rush.

Williams took a similar lesson from LaFleur's sideline message on his late hit: it does not matter how it felt — he hit the quarterback high. The Packers' own takeaway was discipline, even as the rest of the football world debated whether the standard itself has become impossible to play to.

Did the penalties change the result?

No. Dallas turned the ball over on downs on the drive kept alive by the Van Ness and Brooks flags, and Green Bay kept its two-score lead. The third roughing call helped set up Dallas's late touchdown, but with the two-point try failing, the game ended 23-13. What the flags changed was the conversation: instead of a clean story about a dominant Packers defense intercepting Prescott twice and holding Dallas to 13 points, Sunday night ended with a league-wide argument about where the line for roughing the passer actually sits.

What's next?

For Green Bay, the win is real and so is the warning — LaFleur made clear that four penalties on one defensive drive, three of them for roughing in one quarter, will eventually cost a game if they keep happening. For the league, the question is whether anyone explains what Craig Wrolstad's crew saw on the Van Ness push. Until then, the clip will keep circulating: an interception, a two-handed push, a flag, and a stadium — and a timeline — asking the same question at once: that's roughing the passer now?

Sources

FAQ

What was the roughing the passer call on Lukas Van Ness?

With 7:44 left in the fourth quarter, Van Ness pushed Dak Prescott with two hands after the throw. Officials called roughing the passer, which erased Carrington Valentine's interception and gave Dallas 15 yards instead.

Did the controversial calls cost the Packers the game?

No. Green Bay won 23-13. Dallas turned it over on downs on the drive kept alive by the first two roughing calls, and the Packers kept their two-score lead.

How many roughing the passer penalties did Green Bay have?

Three, all in the fourth quarter: Lukas Van Ness, Karl Brooks on the same drive, and Evan Williams with about a minute left.

Who criticized the Van Ness call?

Analyst Brett Kollmann called it the most un-American roughing call in history, former QB Chase Daniel called it the worst he had ever seen, and Hall of Famers Charles Woodson and Kurt Warner were reported among those reacting on social media.