Informing Captains on Penalties

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by Stripe

Do teams get the choice to accept or decline every foul? What I'm getting at is on dead ball fouls like delay of game, false start, or encroachment, etc., does the captain get a choice or do you just automatically mark it off?

A team always has a choice. My routine is to walk off these fouls when it is obvious but think before you do the walk-off if there are other factors.

For instance, had this situation. Five seconds on the clock when Team A false starts. Now acceptance of the penalty means Team A will get one more play regardless. Decline the penalty and Team A has to snap within five seconds. I explained it to the captain because of the impact of the penalty. Any other time, its five yards and start the clock.