Penalty & Enforcement Question

[bisonlj]

We had a similar situation last year on a kick where our HL flagged the kicking team for a block in the back. He was technically right in that the player did push a member of the receiving team in the back and this is supported by rule. We discussed it as a crew and with other officials and were in agreement that this probably should be serious enough to be considered a personal foul (unnecessary roughness) before you flag it. Anything less than that you let go or at least talk to the offender. Oddly, the coach is more likely to accept the PF with a 15-yard penalty than a BIB with a 10-yard penalty in that case.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

We had a similar situation last year on a kick where our HL flagged the kicking team for a block in the back. He was technically right in that the player did push a member of the receiving team in the back and this is supported by rule. We discussed it as a crew and with other officials and were in agreement that this probably should be serious enough to be considered a personal foul (unnecessary roughness) before you flag it. Anything less than that you let go or at least talk to the offender. Oddly, the coach is more likely to accept the PF with a 15-yard penalty than a BIB with a 10-yard penalty in that case.

I can think of a situation in which a BIB by the defense could've been a tactical advantage: shoving a trailing player who was not in the blocker's path to the ballcarrier, but was in position to receive a backwards pass.

I can think of another: hitting a player of R to get him off his peeling-back path in setting up a wall. Usually that would occur before the kick ended, though.

Robert