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When you consider this violation there are a number of things to consider.
You penalize the head coach when the required equipment is not worn because he has certified all his players are legally equipped, at least, you are suppose to ask that as the referee with your umpire as the witness. That would cover such equipment mentioned in 1-5 under Player Equipment. One rather common one that is a problem for officials is the tailbone protector because some players think they will be faster without it. They may be faster but one whack and they may not be moving at all.
The five yard variety is indeed as mentioned in reality is a delay of game. But if was penalized as a DOG that would affect the clock. As mentioned you try every way possible to avoid one of these, especially, with the mouthpiece.
The fifteen yard one is if the player intentionally removes required equipment and to my way of thinking this should almost never be called. What if you see a runner with his mouthpiece dangling during a run? When did it come out of his mouth? What caused it to come out? Maybe you saw it before the snap; then, why are you going to penalize the player for essentially your mistake in not blowing it dead and giving him a five yarder?
I had an umpire once who threw a flag for failure to wear, live ball. He said the QB did not have the mouthpiece in when the ball was snapped, yet, he let the play go. The team scored on the play but it was called back. That was the winning TD except it was callled back.
Next morning the local newspaper caption reads "Officials Take Away Win" citing the 60 yard penalty negating the TD. The penalty was only 15 but what do the newspaper guys know. More importantly, had the play been blown dead before it started the rest would be guesswork.
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