Quote:
Originally Posted by bossman72
I think it's more so holding calls don't turn into 15 yd penalties essentially when you penalize them from the spot of the foul behind the LOS. That's a drive killer as well, which they prob wanted to eliminate.
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You're calling it a "15 yd penalty" on the basis of the distance the new spot gets left from the previous spot when the penalty was from 5 yds behind the previous spot -- but you're just arbitrarily choosing the previous spot as the point of comparison in calling it that. If the ball was held 5 yds. behind the spot of the foul at the time, you could call it a "5 yd penalty" relative to
that spot. If the down ended with a completed pass and a tackle 60 yards downfield, how big do you call the penalty then?
Incidentally, at the time NFL & NCAA started to change these enforcements, illegal use of hands
was a 15 yd. markoff from the 3-and-1 spot against either team in NCAA, or against the offense by NFL! They reduced the distance, made the spot less hurtful, and increased the permissible use of the hands, all in a few years.