4th down/loss of right to replay down

[Brandon Kincer]

Certain penalties include the loss of right to replay a down. It also states in the rulebook that no penalty causes the offending team to lose the ball.my question is if it is 4th and 5 and the offense commits one of these fouls, how is possesion handled and how is the penalty enforced?

[Welpe]

Good question. The loss of the right to replay the down (loss of down) is still enforced when it is 4th down and the ball will go over to the other team. The reason is that the penalty itself did not award the ball to team B, but that team A ran out of downs to reach the line to gain.

What the rule about no penalty causing the team to lose the ball is saying is that no penalty, by itself, causes a team to lose the ball. For example, team A commits offensive pass interference on 4th down. The penalty requires that team A be penalized 15 yards from the basic spot and it also requires that the down counts. Unfortunately for team A, they have used their four downs and they did not reach the line to gain so team B is awarded the ball.

Does that make sense?

[mikesears]

Originally Posted by Brandon Kincer

Certain penalties include the loss of right to replay a down. It also states in the rulebook that no penalty causes the offending team to lose the ball.my question is if it is 4th and 5 and the offense commits one of these fouls, how is possesion handled and how is the penalty enforced?

It isn't the penalty itself that causes a team to lose the ball on 4th down. It is the fact that they haven't reached the line to gain after 4th down and they aren't allowed to replay that down.

Example:
(a) 3/10, or (b) 4/10, at the A-20. A1 runs to the A-34 and then throws an illegal forward pass that falls incomplete.

(a) A's ball 4/1 at the A-29.

(b) B's ball 1/10 at the A-29.

[Brandon Kincer]

Understood. Thanks gentlemen.