Continuation of Scoring Play

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

Nobody answered his original question as to why this foul is enforced this way. I believe it is because the runner did not gain an advantage with the foul and did not contact an opponent when committing the foul. Philosophically most fouls allow the offense to gain an advantage by fouling (block in the back, holding, chop block, etc.) so you only award them the yardage they gained to the foul and penalize from there. That is an over-generalization but most penalty enforcement follows that logic.

I think that's part of the reason. Another part may be that for acts such as taunting, it may be difficult to determine the spot of the foul. So, for instance, a player running down the field flips the bird to someone. Is the spot of the foul where he was when he extended the finger, when he extended his arm enough to make it noticeable, or when the person he intended the message for noticed?