Penalty on Offense & Defense
 

Hello All

A=Offense
D=Defense

I just need a clarification on how too handle a situation under the NFL rule administration.

(A) has the ball on a pass play the tight end holds the defense, on this same play we have a block below the waist on (D) the defense. Do these penalties offset and you replay the down? Do you go with the penalty that has the most severity.

A friend here said he heard these penalties do not offset under NFL rule and the down is not replayed.

Any clarification would be appreciated

Thank you for your time,
Timothy Harris

A block in the back (above the waist) I don't think can apply to the defense and so would not be called. Now if it was clipping (from behind below the waist) then this would be a 15 yard penalty.

Holding by the offense is a 10 yard penalty.

In the NFL these fouls would offset and we would replay the down.

If the fouls are one 15 and one 5 yard penalty then only the 15 is applied.

Canadian Ruling
 

CANADIAN RULING:

Holding is 10 yards. The defensive block in the back is either the 10-yard variety or the 15-yard variety. We call them a "push in the back" and "block in the back", respectively.

The fouls are applied and balanced at the PLS (previous spot). If the block is a "push in the back", we've got 10 and 10 - therefore we just replay the down at the PLS (previous spot). If the block is a "block in the back", the offense is favoured by 5 yards from the PLS, which may result is a 1D.

Clock on the ready if before the 3-minute warning, on the snap if after the 3-minutes warning; for at least one more play in the same quarter.

What I think other posters have missed is that in order for BBW to be illegal in NFL play, there must've previously been a change of possession during the down. The pass must've been intercepted, and probably by "defense" the poster above meant the team that started the down on defense, or both fouls would be by the same team. It would matter whether the holding occurred before or after CoP. It's unlikely that holding by A would occur after the pass, but it might've.

Several years back these opposing fouls straddling a CoP in the NFL resulted in replaying the down, much to the consternation of the team that had gained possession before they too fouled. IIRC, this has been changed to allow the team designated "D" above to decline the penalty on A, and their penalty would be from the all-but-one spot (according to where their personal foul occurred relative to where their run ended), resulting in their starting a series 1st down. If both fouls occurred following the CoP, then the CoP would still be honored but the spot (with penalties offsetting) becoming the point where possession was gained.

Robert