"Catchability"?

[Lintner5]

From what I've seen & heard about when it is/isn't appropriate to call pass interference, if the pass is thrown in the general direction of the contact (e.g., left, middle, right) it is pass interference even if the pass is substantially under-/over-thrown. However, if contact is on a WR doing a fly pattern near L's sideline & the pass is thrown to the flat on LJ's side, pass interference isn't appropriate.

On an overthrown pass, it's hard to say. If the pass is beyond the receiver when the contact occurs (but the ball hasn't hit the ground yet), it usually doesn't warrant a call. However, if an overthrown pass is obviously not going to be caught (e.g., a line-drive pass but 3 yards above everyone or a pop-fly pass with a trajectory to go well beyond) but the contact occurs before the ball clearly passes the receiver, this usually warrants a flag.

Also, know that in these situations, you'll hear from one sideline or the other because both all pass interference calls & the judgment involved usually elicit more chatter and because our rules differ from the NFL & NCAA in determining catchability.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Lintner5

pass interference calls & the judgment involved usually elicit more chatter and because our rules differ from the NFL & NCAA in determining catchability.

Not only that, but, having started with the same rule on pass interference that all 3 of these codes had, Fed seems to want to have no such thing as a catchability philosophy, just by the wording of the rules. When NFL & NCAA adopted an explicity catchability provision, I took that as a mere clarif'n, not a substantive change, because it was always implicit that if a pass couldn't be caught anyway, then contact or faceguarding didn't actually interfere with an opponent's ability to catch the ball. However, Fed's adopting language regarding the ability of a potential receiver to move toward the ball or its path would seem to mean that, yes, they would want a flag thrown 50 yards away because it interferes with the player's ability to move to within 40 yards of the ball's flight!

Canadian football has a target/non-target area differential penalty, the point of which is...what? So that if the pass is caught, a player remote from it is not interfered with during the interval it's in the air so that he's that much closer to being able to throw a block, make a tackle, or receive a lateral pass as the play continues? Or does that rule still apply only to illegal use of the hands in a non-target area? (The USAn rules got broadened in recent decades.)

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

However, Fed's adopting language regarding the ability of a potential receiver to move toward the ball or its path would seem to mean that, yes, they would want a flag thrown 50 yards away because it interferes with the player's ability to move to within 40 yards of the ball's flight!

You have to know the rules, not just quote one random sentence and try to use it to make a point. About 3 lines after what you quoted it says...

ART. 11 . . . It is not forward-pass interference if:
c. Contact by B is obviously away from the direction of the pass.