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Originally Posted by Robert Goodman
OK, but so what? Look at what's penalized by LOD and tell us what a team would gain by fouling in such a situation.
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REPLY: A leads 7-6 late in the 4th quarter. It's 4th and 10 at A's 15. 0:08 seconds on a stopped clock. A just wants to punt the ball out of there and gain field position. Punter A10 muffs the snap and scrambles for ball near A's goal line. He picks it up at A's 1 and sees the oncoming rush. He throws a forward pass to the flats where there's no eligible receiver--just to dump it and avoid the sack. Time expires while the pass is in flight. RULING: Illegal forward pass. Penalize A half the distance and it's a LOD. So B takes over at A's 1/2 yardline. But guess what...because of this new rule, we don't extend the period. Game over! Whereas a B sack would have given B a shot, and the previous rule would have extended the period for B to run an untimed down, now we need to tell B's coach, "Tough break. A's foul allowed them to seal their victory. We're going home."