A Dolphins player suffered a season-ending injury while trying to follow a new rule to protect quarterbacks and now the NFL is under fire again

Lynne Sladky/AP

• Miami Dolphins defensive end William Hayes suffered a torn ACL on Sunday while sacking Derek Carr.
• Hayes landed awkwardly on his leg while trying to follow the NFL's new roughing-the-passer rule, which prevents players from landing with their full weight on top of the quarterback.
• The rule was already being scrutinized for being unfair to defensive players, and now many in the NFL world are criticizing it further.

Miami Dolphins defensive end William Hayes suffered a brutal injury trying to follow the NFL's controversial new rule.

The Dolphins announced on Monday that Hayes tore his ACL and will be out for the season after he suffered the injury while sacking Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr in Week 3.

As Hayes brought down Carr, he tried to move to the side to avoid the NFL's new roughing-the-passer rule, which flags players for landing with their full body weight on top of quarterbacks. As Hayes landed, his leg twisted, resulting in a season-ending injury.

Here was the play:

Hayes' injury only adds increasing skepticism and criticism of the rule.

In Week 2, the Green Bay Packers had a game-ending interception against the Minnesota Vikings overturned when the referees flagged Clay Matthews for roughing the passer. While referees later said the flag was because Matthews drove Kirk Cousins into the ground, not for putting his body weight on him, the penalty still raised eyebrows.

In Week 3, Matthews was called or roughing the passer for landing on Alex Smith of the Washington Redskins.

After the game, Matthews expressed his frustration with the rule.

"Obviously when you're tackling a guy from the front you're gonna land on him," Matthews said after the game. "I understand the spirit of the rule, I said that weeks prior ... Unfortunately, this league's going in a direction I think a lot of people don't like. I think they're getting soft. The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard."

Following the news of Hayes' injury, criticism from the NFL world continued to pile up.

As Breer noted, everyone thought the NFL's new helmet rule would be the talking point of the league early in the season. Instead, it's been a new roughing-the-passer call that is already shaping outcomes and, potentially, seasons.

Perhaps the league will call the penalty more frequently early on in an attempt to get players used to the rule, then scale back later in the year. But as we've already seen with Hayes, trying to adjust to the rule can have major ramifications.