What to call

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by mikesears

If a player is "head hunting" and the ball is live, my philosophy is to bring the ball back and mark off the penalty. If the ball is dead and the foul occurs, treat it as a dead ball foul. The only change I wish the NF would make is to allow a choice of spots for dead ball fouls on a scoring play (try or succeeding kickoff). I don't feel I can go wrong by applying the rules as written and as kentref has offered, it prevents similar things from happening later.

One of the reasons officials are reluctant to enforce as written is coaches don't like stupid penalties that take scores off the board and for many high school officials enforcement could lead to serious consequences by the coaches.

I agree the rules committee should look at this problem. If the rule is not enforced then it opens the door for further unnecessary action. Enforcement as a USC or a dead ball personal brings ethics into question.