Pass interference penalty

[SkinsJock]

not sure if this is the right forum - I posted in Football 101 also

anyway ... this is a good argument to change this penalty

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1596 ... t-15-yards

[Countertrey]

not sure if this is the right forum - I posted in Football 101 also

anyway ... this is a good argument to change this penalty

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1596 ... t-15-yards

Of course... I replied to the other one... which do you want to keep? It'd be fine here...


Ah, what the heck... I killed the one in FB101... You're a generous guy... you'll forgive me...

[Countertrey]

I'd love it... as a start... anyone who knows me knows that I think defenses have been getting raped by rule changes since the 1970's... to the point that this game is entirely different from the one that Bobby Mitchell and Charley Taylor had to play... they were literally mugged on every play... every catch they made, they EARNED... yet, the big name receivers today get to push off CONSTANTLY and are literally untouchable under most officiating crews...

I want the game made playable again by guys like Pat Fisher.. who were never the most talented DB's on the field... but were always the most feared.

[Irn-Bru]

The main problem I see with the proposal is that defenders could focus on deep routes less, knowing that if they get burned they can mug the receiver and make it a 15-yard play instead of a 70-yard play.

But I also agree that right now, as it stands, the penalty is called too inconsistently to carry such steep consequences. It isn't fair.

[SkinsJock]

I hear you FFA and I understand your point

THE REALITY is there are just so many times during a game that calls are not being made OR that 'fouls' are being called that have a huge impact on the game

slightly off topic - I'm not near as cogniscant as Boss Hog and some others here are of the amount of holding calls by O linemen that are not called - if there is holding and the viewers are seeing it, the refs surely are too - CALL IT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

The refs are allowing the receivers to get away with a lot but they are NOT allowing the pass defenders to get away wih very much at all

IF there is an infraction by the receiver the refs should do a better job of making that call - the penalty against the receiver is miniscule when compared to the defender being called for pass interference on a long pass

in too many cases the PI call is a judgement call by the ref AND it affects the game

if the rule is not changed the refs should ONLY call the blatantly obvious PI calls

[Irn-Bru]

I agree. It's not a sustainable balance the way things stand.

I wonder if it wouldn't have been good to implement a yellow/red card system from the beginning. That way, you don't need to make the penalties themselves too severe, because if there's a blatant foul the ref could send a player off the field.

Basically what I'm getting at is this. The current system is a "don't do the crime if you can't do the time" mentality. It can be "worth" it to committ a penalty if the price you pay for isn't as high as the advantage it confers. So when the league is trying to clamp down on certain penalties, basically all they can do is (a) raise the yardage attached to it or (b) tell the refs to call it much more tightly. Both are just ways of raising the price.

But what if the yardage stayed on the more reasonable side, and the refs were given leeway to penalize unsportsmanlike play (what the Europeans would call "cynical")? I think that would be a faster way to get from A to B: stopping the rulebreakers from using dirty play to their advantage.

(Not saying that would necessarily be a good idea to introduce yellow/red cards right now, of course.)

[KazooSkinsFan]

Not saying that would necessarily be a good idea to introduce yellow/red cards right now, of course

I like the idea. Any unsportsmanship would be an auto yellow. Two and you're done. Or a red for a flagrant and you're done. And when you're done you're not only done for the game but the next one, both with no pay.

Another thing I think they should do is start calling unsportsmanship penalties on the HC and they should be tacked on. So say a team is committing them across the team and the HC is clearly condoning or even encouraging it. Then another cheap shot and they get a double unsportsmanship, 30 yards, one on the player one on the coach. And the coach like players would be subject to league review and additional punishments.

Clearly some teams are using it as intimidation and when they're punishing the QB for example with cheap shots the 15 yards simply isn't a sufficient deterrent and the league is doing nothing about it. I barely watched NHL hockey in the late 80s and early 90s because it just became the brawl league and I was sick of it. Then in the late 90s the league cracked down and I started watching again. The NFL isn't to that point, but they need to start doing something now because it's getting worse not better.

[SkinsJock]

OK - let's add this to the mix too

I wonder why the League doesn't do a better job of making the refs more accountable for some of their 'bad' mistakes - a lot of these judgement calls are shown to be both not correct and also to have had an impact on the final result of the game

refs are not really punished - they may lose a little credibility wise but nothing really bad happens to them for clearly making a bad call

[Countertrey]

OK - let's add this to the mix too

I wonder why the League doesn't do a better job of making the refs more accountable for some of their 'bad' mistakes - a lot of these judgement calls are shown to be both not correct and also to have had an impact on the final result of the game

refs are not really punished - they may lose a little credibility wise but nothing really bad happens to them for clearly making a bad call

It needs to start with making Referees full time employees...
It does make me sick that you never hear of consequences for attrocious officiating when it happens.