Safety or Not?

[Texas Aggie]

Like I said, if the hold occurred on 3rd and, say, 35 (and I've had a few of those this year) and Team A's punter was REALLY bad, and the place kicker was really good, and perhaps it was late in the game and 2 points didn't mean much, you MIGHT go ahead and wipe out the safety. Again, really weird set of circumstances and the coach risks karma coming back and Team A getting a first down (or, even worse, Team B committing a foul on the next play that results in a first down -- something I've also seen several times this year). After a safety, a free kick from the 20 from a good kicker might put the team back at their own 20 whereas a bad punt on 4th down might put them at the other team's 40 or better. If I KNEW I was going to get that, down 7, last 2 minutes or so in the game, I'd decline the penalty. 2 points means nothing in that situation.

This would be pretty limited (say, once in 5 years), but I think the important thing in any penalty enforcement (and I think Fed is the same) is to remember that any penalty may be declined and to go through and think what happens in any case if the penalty is declined. The first question I ask as an R is "what happened on the play" if I don't know.