Double Foul

[chymechowder]

Originally Posted by ajmc

"Some days are diamonds, some days are stones." I think the same might apply to the administration of rules. Long, long ago the decision was made that only one live ball foul could be charged against the same team, during the same down.

One size NEVER fits ALL situations, equally as well.

Agreed. Another hypothetical situation similar to this:

1st down on A's 10 yardline. A80 catches a pass over the middle, hits a seam, and begins streaking downfield. He's being pursued by B24 and B25.

A88 joins the pack and illegally blocks B24 in the back at the B20 yardline. The BJ throws the flag, and B25 recognizes what the flag is for.

Let's say A80 is running out of gas and B25 can now make the tackle. In this case, the "smart" play for B25 is to tackle A80 by the facemask, right? Because if he makes a regular (clean) tackle at the B10 yardline, Team A will get teh ball at the B30--for a net gain of 60 yards.

But if B commits a live ball foul, they offset and by rule the down is replayed--back at the A10 yardline.

(Note: I'm in Mass., where we use NCAA rules, but I don't think there's an NFHS difference here.)

Granted, this situation will rarely, if ever, arise. But it still strikes me as a bit funny, in that it can behoove a team to commit a foul.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by chymechowder

Agreed. Another hypothetical situation similar to this:

1st down on A's 10 yardline. A80 catches a pass over the middle, hits a seam, and begins streaking downfield. He's being pursued by B24 and B25.

A88 joins the pack and illegally blocks B24 in the back at the B20 yardline. The BJ throws the flag, and B25 recognizes what the flag is for.

Let's say A80 is running out of gas and B25 can now make the tackle. In this case, the "smart" play for B25 is to tackle A80 by the facemask, right? Because if he makes a regular (clean) tackle at the B10 yardline, Team A will get teh ball at the B30--for a net gain of 60 yards.

But if B commits a live ball foul, they offset and by rule the down is replayed--back at the A10 yardline.

(Note: I'm in Mass., where we use NCAA rules, but I don't think there's an NFHS difference here.)

Granted, this situation will rarely, if ever, arise. But it still strikes me as a bit funny, in that it can behoove a team to commit a foul.

But there's a way of solving this problem if the rules makers had the will. If penalty choices were presented and resolved in the order of the occurrence of the live ball fouls, then B would accept the penalty for A's illegal block from the spot of the foul (being behind the end of the run), which would then become the spot for enforcement of the penalty for B's subsequent foul.

Robert in the Bronx