Quote:
Originally posted by JugglingReferee
2. You could say that DPI against an A player is such that if A catches the ball, then the yards will stand. Leaving the LS early is different than leaving the playing field. It doesn't say in the white book that DPI against an illegally participating player is not called though. What is A15 comes off the bench and then is interfered with? Interesting anyways. [/B]
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The difference between an ineligibly numbered player who cannot have DPI committed on him and this situation is that the ineligibly numbered player would commit a foul only if they touched the ball. So preventing the player from touching the ball (i.e. fouling) is not a foul on B's part.
The other argument is that B can gain an advantage if allowed to commit DPI. In a situation with just IP and DPI, B can do no worse than give A another down. However, if B is allowed to prevent A from catching the ball and the pass goes incomplete then B could decline the penalty for IP and gain an advantage. This is because A has already fouled. So we must not allow B to prevent A from catching the ball. This lets A the opportunity to make the result of the play unpalatable to B so they must take the penalty.