Has NFL always been this....soft?

Hi all. I come from the land down under, so be gentle. I've always had a passing interest in the NFL but have recently started watching it a lot more and enjoying it quite a bit.

Anyway, what's with the "roughing the passer" calls these first two rounds? Has it always been like this? I support no team in particular but almost every call I've seen I've sat there in disbelief that a full contact sport, where things happen in fractions of a second, can result in defenders been penalised for hitting the QB a microsecond after he's released the ball. Half the time the defender is in the process of making the tackle so has his head down or is grappling with someone else at the same time so can't see shit. QBs pump fake all the time for crying out loud. Clearly late and malicious hits, sure. Barely any of the ones I've seen given would fit in this category.

This plus other rules (the taunting one for example) make me feel like the NFL is trying to set some kind of weird moral code on how gentlemanly you must be when bashing the shit out of someone else. It's weird.

Having a good time getting into this sport otherwise :)

Edit: I did t mean to say the game was actually soft, it certainly isnt, just that some of the calls seem to be a little over the top for the what they are.