Holding away from point of attack

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by MJT

Actually Walt, the NFL has changed there philosophy on this in the last year. Before, they did not want a hold called when the player being held made the tackle or if his teammate did at the same time. Now they want it called for two reasons, 1) so they have the choice of declining or taking the foul as I show in the below play, or 2) cuz it could be part of a double foul situation.

I don't see either of those as a virtue.

Now I know that is the NFL, but all levels of NCAA ball are doing the same. It was mentioned at our NAIA officials meeting and I know it was at the Big 12 meeting, and is in the book put out by Dick Honig, which many major conferences are following.

Think about a play like this. 3-2 at B's 13 yard line, and the QB is sacked by the player being held but only for a 2 yard loss.
1) If you don't throw the flag cuz the "held player" made the tackle for a loss, it will be 4-4 at the 15, and a 32 yard field goal would give A 3 pts.
2) If you throw the flag on the "held player" who made the tackle for a loss, team B could accept the penalty and it will be 3-14 at the 25, and team A has much less chance to get points on the board. They would need 10 yards to get the same 32 yard FG, and 14 for a 1st down.

I think these examples go against the reason for having penalties for fouls. Penalties should not be a feature by which one side gains an advantage, they are just an approximate remedy to prevent the other team from gaining an unfair (according to the taste of the game's designers) advantage. If they could magically prevent the violation from having occurred, wouldn't that be better for the game? (Then all they need is a machine to spot the ball & keep time, and they've eliminated your job.)

I can see only one good reason for penalizing holding where the held player made a tackle: the possibility that without his being held, it could've been a "better" tackle, i.e. one that knocked the ball loose or made the dead ball spot more favorable to his team.

Robert