Possible rule change/

[jemiller]

HI guys,

One rule that I would like to see changed, for more clear officiating, is the post status kick situation. In my humble opinion, once the offense has given up the ball, i.e. punted and it has crossed the LOS, all enforcement should be determined by the result of the play when it ends. We wouldn't have to bean bag the spot of R's possession, and I think that it would be just cleaner all way round.

What's your opinion...Jim

[BktBallRef]

Why is your idea better than PSK?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by jemiller

HI guys,

One rule that I would like to see changed, for more clear officiating, is the post status kick situation. In my humble opinion, once the offense has given up the ball, i.e. punted and it has crossed the LOS, all enforcement should be determined by the result of the play when it ends. We wouldn't have to bean bag the spot of R's possession, and I think that it would be just cleaner all way round.

Consider then the possibilities of a scrimmage kick returner hurling a long forward pass to a teammate. Or really any of various fouls by team R allowing them a long runback.

Robert

[jemiller]

Any fouls by the receiving team would still be enforced under the all but one principle as always. If the receivers tried a pass during a run back, it would be penalized like any illegal forward pass would.

Basically my thought would be once the kicking team gives up it's right to the ball by kicking it away, then any penalties would be enforced like a running play once the R has secured possession of the ball.

Just a thought. Most times that is how it happens anyway, and I would think that it would simplify officiating kicks.

Just a thought. Jim

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by jemiller

Any fouls by the receiving team would still be enforced under the all but one principle as always.

OK, but that's not what you wrote before. But 3-and-1 would still lead to a problem on a kick play that would be more likely than on a normal play.

The problem is that when the kick is gotten off quickly and the coverage team has a lot of ground to cover, a foul may occur far ahead of where the kick comes down and allow a much longer gain than would be the case on a non-kicking play. For example, suppose every blocking player of R were to tackle a coverage player as soon as the ball crossed the neutral zone. Neither the end of the run nor the spot of the foul would be likely to be a spot from which the markoff would discourage such a play.

Of course you could decide this is not that big a problem, similarly to the way defensive pass interference is penalized from the previous spot even though the pass may have gone far downfield.

Robert

[Rich]

Originally Posted by jemiller

HI guys,

One rule that I would like to see changed, for more clear officiating, is the post status kick situation. In my humble opinion, once the offense has given up the ball, i.e. punted and it has crossed the LOS, all enforcement should be determined by the result of the play when it ends. We wouldn't have to bean bag the spot of R's possession, and I think that it would be just cleaner all way round.

What's your opinion...Jim

Except this is one rule that is actually consistent at each level of FB and was an example of a positive change the NFHS made. I like PSK enforcement. (I would extend it to free kicks, myself.)

Last night we had an invalid fair catch signal called. A long time ago, the only option would've been to replay the down or for K to decline the penalty. This simplifies enforcement and still allows the yardage for the foul to be applied. Win, win. And not hard to deal with.

[BktBallRef]

[quote=jemiller;627390] If the receivers tried a pass during a run back, it would be penalized like any illegal forward pass would.

That rule already exists.

Basically my thought would be once the kicking team gives up it's right to the ball by kicking it away, then any penalties would be enforced like a running play once the R has secured possession of the ball.

Penalties that occur after R gains possession are penalized like a running play.

A kick is a loose ball play. Changing the rule so that fouls during the kick are treated like a running play makes no sense.

Let's say there's holding at the 50 during a kick. The receiver fields the kick at the 20 and returns it for a score. Under all but one, we would penalize from the 50. But for all we know, the player that was held at the 50 may have made the tackle on the receiver as soon as he caught the ball. That's a huge advantage for R.

PSK is clear enforcement. The enforcement is from the end of the catch. In reality, R does not get the ball with clean hands. But PSK allows them to keep the ball with the foul being enforced from the end of the kick. In the past, the foul would have been marked off from the previous spot and K might have gotten a 1st down, even though they had given up the ball.

I'm with Rich. PSK has already fixed this situation.