The questionable roughing the passer calls are in midseason form

In training camp, NFL players can beat the hell out of each other without scrutiny from 345 Park Avenue. During the games, the flags fly for even the slightest contact.

Friday night's preseason game at MetLife Stadium featured a roughing call on Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence for a palm to the facemask of Panthers quarterback Bryce Young.

The rule prohibits a forcible blow to the head of the quarterback. Forcible is subjective, fuzzy. The Lawrence blow to Young's head didn't appear to be forcible.

But, remember, the rules require the officials to resolve any doubt in favor of throwing the flag (i.e., when in doubt, whip it out). That's what the league wants — maximum protection of quarterbacks, no matter what.

Young's size might help him in this regard. At least one person fairly high up in the league office was perplexed by the fact that the Week Four tackle of Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa wasn't a foul. It wasn't a foul because Tua is small, making a normal tackle look much worse than it was.

As word gets around regarding the belief by someone fairly high up in the league office that the clean, legal tackle of Tua should have drawn a flag, game officials naturally will be inclined to throw a flag when a smaller quarterback is hit.

So get ready, NFL fans. The penalty Chris Simms calls "nothing the passer" will be back this year, and it will potentially be invoked against your favorite team at the worst possible time.