Quote:
Originally posted by Dale Smith
That would have been true last season but in 2004 PSK begins with the snap. I had been trying to figure why that change was made and this play makes sense. If you brought the ball back to the previous spot Team A gets an extra down or possibly a whole new series. That is exactly why the PSK exception was enacted.
[Edited by Ed Hickland on Aug 24th, 2004 at 12:55 PM]
|
Sorry Ed I have to disagree with you. This years and last years interpretation does not come in to play in this case. What does come in to question is exactly where is the spot of the foul? You have 12 men all over the field. Is the 12th man on the line? Is he a deep receiver? We do not know and never will know in this situation. Granted the play should have been shut down prior to the snap but sometimes that just does not happen. In this case the foul happened when the ball was snapped. Since we do not know which player is not supposed to be on the field, common sense also says that the spot of the foul is the line of scrimmage. Not beyond the expanded neutral zone. Therefore on this play PSK does not apply.
Dale Smith [/QUOTE]
The reason that the change was made is because that is the way it was intended to be in the first place: Simpler and more sensible.
Our local association (which I didn't belong to at the time) was instrumental in orchestrating the initial PSK rule experiment and eventual rule change. Not that they were pioneers or anything (NFL and NCAA? already had it), but in the 1st year of PSK as a NFHS rule, Columbus told us to enforce PSK starting with the snap becuase that is the way "we" (OH) wrote it to begin with but the Fed. comittee changed it. You all know that it is nearly impossible for an official calling a potential PSK foul to know whether or not the ball had crossed the NZ when the foul occurred--or for the HL (watching whether or not the ball crosses the NZ) to know when that flag was thrown. The spritit of the rule, in my paraphrase, says that a foul on R's side of the ENZ on a punt is relative to R's return of the kick (field position) whether or not the kick has yet to have been made; if a foul by R occurs in the ENZ or on K's side, it is reletive to R's pursuit of the kicker, and if an R foul occurs before the snap (or simultaneous with it), it also falls into the category of gaining an advantage for line play, etc. Think about it this way:
in general, is the foul one you would normally see after a change of possession?
Hope that helps
Jonathan