Super Bowl XLIII (43) Crew

[daggo66]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

I thought I heard McAuley say the penalty was before the change of possession. If that's true, Pittsburgh still got the ball with clean hands so they could decline the penalty and keep the ball. But if they accepted the penalty, it would have been enforced from the previous spot and the down replayed. What I heard the announcers say was the penalty was against Arizona and even though they were the offense at the beginning of the play, they became the defense after the COP (they never specifically indicated if the foul was before or after COP). They kept going on and on about how the half can't end on a defensive penalty and I was screaming that it doesn't matter who the foul is on. If accepted (in most cases), you have one untimed down. It's just very unusual for the defense to accept a penalty to give the offense one more chance to score.

I've got the game on DVR so I need to go back and watch to hear what McAuley had to say again. Does anyone know for sure if the penalty was before or after the COP?

It was before. BTW "clean hands" refers to a penalty by each team, one on A before the COP and then on B after.

[cmathews]

Originally Posted by daggo66

It was before. BTW "clean hands" refers to a penalty by each team, one on A before the COP and then on B after.

It actually refers to when a penalty by the team last in possesion occurs. If it occured before they last gained possesion then it is not clean hands, if it occurs after they last gain possesion, then they have clean hands and get to keep the ball. There does not have to be 2 penalties to have a clean hands discussion.

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by daggo66

It was before. BTW "clean hands" refers to a penalty by each team, one on A before the COP and then on B after.

I did re-watch the play on DVR and McAuley did say the penalty was before the interception. I also watched official review and learned about a difference between HS and NFL penalty enforcement. Pereira said a personal foul by the offense prior to a change of possession does tack on the penalty at the end of the run and a period is extended if the penalty is accepted. There would have been one untimed down if Harrison had not made it to the end zone.

[ajmc]

It's really surprising, since most of us, justifyably, think a lot less of people who "think" they know the rules we play under, but actually don't and choose to offer instruction anyway, feel so comfortable critiquing NFL official's rule knowledge.

Considering all the extra time most officials, at lower levels, spend on rules review, debating interpretations, discussing topics, arguing perspectives down to the gnat's eyelash level, while acknowledging that NFL officials likely spend a lot more time on these activities than us, there's some reluctance to accept the simple fact that it is highly likely that every NFL official understands NFL rules better than ANYONE else.

Maybe it's just the nature of the beast.