Commanders' Jonathan Allen: NFL 'overreacting' to Tua Tagovailoa with roughing the passer calls

Washington Commanders defensive tackle Jonathan Allen has become the latest person to link two controversial roughing the passer penalties to the injuries suffered by Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa last month. 

"I think the league is trying to make a statement," Allen explained on Wednesday, according to the Washington Post (h/t Pro Football Talk). "They’re overreacting to what happened to Tua." 

The Tagovailoa saga began when he was allowed to return to the field during the Week 3 win over the Buffalo Bills even though it appeared he suffered a head injury before halftime of that game. Both Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Tagovailoa later insisted no such injury occurred against Buffalo, but the signal-caller was then stretchered off the field and taken to a hospital following a hit during the "Thursday Night Football" matchup at the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29. 

Tagovailoa returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since he officially went down with a concussion in Cincinnati but isn't expected to play in this Sunday's game versus the Minnesota Vikings.

Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Grady Jarrett and Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs were both flagged for highly questioned roughing the passer penalties in Week 5 of the season that outraged fans and will reportedly have owners discussing such calls when they meet in New York next week.

For this week's edition of his "Football Morning in America" column, NBC Sports' Peter King wrote that one longtime NFL executive told him the roughing call against Jarrett was part of the league's "overreaction Sunday" to the Tagovailoa situation. A former official told King that "officials aren’t immune from what’s going on in public" regarding Tagovailoa's status.