Agreed, why didn't he peer into the future and know that was going to happen?

there I fixed it...

It didn't need fixing. The second sentence made it clear what I was talking about.

What amazes me is that all the fans don't understand the 5 yard facemask rule. They are reading into it thinking that all facemasks are 15 yarders, but that is incorrect. Maybe Mike P will inform the misinformed that the 5 yard variety is now legal.

As others have pointed out, there must be a twisting and pulling on the facemask for a penalty to be called.

Official NFL Rule Book 2009

Rule 12, Section 2, Article 5:
No player shall twist, turn, or pull the facemask of an opponent in any direction.
Penalty: For twisting, turning, or pulling the mask: loss of 15 yards. The player may be disqualified if the action is judged by the official(s) to be of a flagrant nature.

A.R. 12.12 Third-and-10 on A30. Runner A1 runs to the A33, where he is tackled by B1, who incidentally grasps A1's face mask on the tackle, but it is not a twist, turn, or pull.
Ruling: A's ball, fourth-and-seven, on A33. No foul



Also, if the face mask would of been called, it would of been a 15 yard penalty coupled with an automatic first down from the previous spot. Green Bay's ball 1st-and-10 from their 39.

????
 

Jason,
Can you enlighten us on a 5 yd facemask in the NFL??

There is no such thing under NFL Rules. The pertinent rules on face mask were posted above.

I was just stating that it is no longer illegal to have an incidental facemask foul that was once a 5 yard penalty.

so we can have a 5 yarder???
 

or that they did away with the 5 yard variety and only have the 15 yard option left??

There is no longer a foul for incidental grasping of the face mask in NFL or the NCAA. This foul does still exist in the Fed and the penalty is 5 yards. In the NFL and NCAA, there is only a foul for a pull, twist or turn. This foul is 15 yards.

There are some that believe (incorrectly) that ANY facemask grab is now a 15yard foul. That is not true under any code.

That is correct. There is no 5 yard face mask penalty anymore. It's 15 yards or nothing.

Yes that was my understanding as well, but I wasn't exactly sure what Jason was trying to say that is why I asked him for clarification.

Then why were the officials throwing their bags?

In these bang-bang plays like this I believe the officials are supposed to go with fumble and then let replay kick in to see if it was a pass.

Avoiding a knock-on?

Just a little inter-code humor.