Newbie questions
 

I am not an official, but I respect their expertise of the rule book and would like to learn more about the game. I have a couple questions right off the bat, and I’d like to keep asking them in this thread if you don’t mind. I am looking for NFL rules only.

1. Is a 15-yard offensive face mask penalty marked from the LOS or the end of the play?

2. Are there any penalties that supersede offsetting penalties and must be enforced?

3. Do all offensive holding penalties nullify the play (no stats kept)?

1. It is marked from the end of the play. This is because the basic spot on a running play is the end of the run, if the run ends beyond the neutral zone.
2. Any disqualifications are enforced, whether the penalty attached to the disqualification is accepted, declined, or offset.
3. Accepted offensive holding nullifies the play if the succeeding spot is behind the line to gain. If there is a hold on a touchdown ~20 yards away from the line of scrimmage, (the down is 2nd and 5, for instance) the touchdown is taken off the board, but since the spot of the foul was beyond the line to gain when the foul was committed, the ball would be taken back to a spot 10 yards from the spot of the foul, and the succeeding spot following enforcement is beyond the line to gain, the offense gets the 1st down, and the running back would receive credit for any yardage up to the succeeding spot.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

1. If the penalty is marked from the end of the play, does that mean any gain accrued on the play is credited in the official stats? (Ex. Say it was a 20-yard run. Would the RB get credit for all 20 yards or 20-15? And would it be a repeat of down or loss of down?) How would the facemask be enforced if it was a passing play?

2. So personal/unsportsmanlike fouls could be offset as long as the player wasn’t ejected?

3. Holding is more complicated than I thought. So WHERE the hold took place is an essential factor in enforcement? Could you give other examples or point me to them?

Thanks for your help!

Also, what does “behind the line to gain” mean?

The line to gain is the yard line required to obtain a first down....it's indicated by the end of the chain or the yellow line they display on the field during a broadcast.

If the ball is spotted "beyond the line to gain", the team successfully obtained a new set of downs. If it is "behind the line to gain" they either have more work to do, or they might have turned the ball over on downs.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks.

He asked for NFL rules. These are not answers that apply to NFL rules.


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A face mask is a spot foul +15, with an automatic 1st down, unless the NFL has both 5 and 15 yard face mask penalties. The spot of the foul on face mask fouls is usually the end of the run, which is the basic spot for enforcement on running plays, because the being tackled by the face mask usually stops the runner's forward progress.
Number 2 is true in NFHS and NCAA, so no reason to suppose it would not be true at the NFL level, unless someone brings up a citation from the NFL rulebook saying otherwise.
Holding is a spot foul, with a 10 yard penalty, so where the hold took place matters. The only exception is that holds behind the neutral zone are enforced from the previous spot.

NFL rules only, if the spot of enforcement for a penalty is the end of the play, wouldn’t loss of down be implied as well?

He said face mask by the offense in the OP.

To address the post above mine, if a face mask penalty is accepted against either team, we replay the down.


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Offensive facemask would be a spot foul enforcement, 5 or 15 depending on what happened (grasping or twisting/turning/pulling) and replay the down.