Interesting way to think about offsetting fouls

[Texas Aggie]

This may not be anything new to most of you guys, but tonight a play we had just hit me differently.

I forget the down, but ball on A's 20. A's run breaks loose into the secondary, and he is far downfield. About the B 30 or so, A blocks in the back, then about 10 yards further, another A holds a player (bear hug tackle, actually). A eventually scores. I have the two downfield fouls.

So I turn back to stop the clock and report my stuff to the R (three man), and the LJ is stopping the clock as well. Turns out he had defensive facemask (5 yards) in the backfield on his side before the A player broke loose. So after we clarify fouls on both teams, we offset, and go back to the 20.

At halftime, I tell the guys that the weird part of the play is that B's foul actually helped B. Without the facemask foul, A gets the ball, first down, about the B45 or 50 after the other fouls are enforced. Its just ironic in a lot of these offsetting situations, one team's rule infraction helps, rather than hurts, them.

[yankeesfan]

what if A was able to decline the face mask and have their penalty enforced at the block in the back spot? that would make it interesting.

[stevesmith]

I talked with someone about this exact situation today. In my mind, it is a flaw in the rulebook.

[Texas Aggie]

Perhaps the way to change this is to make an exception to offsetting fouls that if Team A gets a first down and fouls after that, then the fouls against Team A are ignored, and the fouls against Team B are enforced from the previous spot. Sort of a "split the difference" deal with Team A getting an auto first down. So, in this case, Team A has the first down at their own 25.

As one of my partners commented when I pointed this out, "yeah, that's true, but Team A is equally to blame as if they don't foul, they get a TD." In other words, A still has to be responsible for their own fouls and if it costs them a long gain or TD, that's their own problem.

[ljudge]

I've been thinking about this for at least 4 years now and continue to scratch my head on how to fix this.

[JugglingReferee]

This hiccup could never happen with the Canadian ruleset.

B's FM is a 15y foul. There's no 5y variety in Canada. This is also a UR foul - the POA is up to the non-offending team: A.

B has to choose between A's BIB and A's hold. Since the BIB = 15y, and hold = 10y, B will decline the hold and accept the BIB.

The yardage from B's FM and A's BIB will offset, but A will earn an AFD. So it's A1D @ point ball held of the BIB.

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Originally Posted by ljudge

I've been thinking about this for at least 4 years now and continue to scratch my head on how to fix this.

I'll make a suggestion - y'all can tell me why it would be broken in some other fashion. On a running play, spot the ball at the point of the first flag. On a loose-ball play, we can still go back to the previous spot.