Retracting a Penalty Decision

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by ajmc

With all due respect RichMSN you are simply wrong, and what's worse unnecessarily so. Perhaps I overstated somewhat suggesting, "it's fairly common practice to explain penalty options to a captain, within earshot of his coach who may subsequently advise the captain on what decision to make", but those who have mastered that ability are able to accomplish what you are suggesting, without ignoring the clearly stated rule.

It's really not up to either one of us to determine if the player selected as a team captain is smart enough or mature enough to make the decisions his team, and the rules, have entrusted him to do. It's not really hard at all to involve a coach, subtlety, in the decision process to whatever extent deemed necessary, without ignoring the team captain and insulting his intelligence.

Al, give me all the complex words you can conjure but you illustrate all the understanding of someone whose complete empirical knowledge comes from Madden Football.

The reason experienced Rs do not rely absolutely on the captain for penalty decisions is because football is complex and some penalty decisions depend upon the complete knowledge of a team's ability and strategy somethng that may not be known by a captain. The coaching staff may make a penalty decision based upon the ability of the players or it could be the coaching staff has a strategy beyond the simple penalty decision. Remember a good team is a team and a captain knows his role and relies upon his coach for guidance even at the pro level, or, more so at the pro level.