False Start OR Illegal Shift?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Someone's going to say it ... might as well be me. The penalty is not automatically assessed, and can still be declined. You just can't decline it in favor of the play as you can on illegal shift... because the play never happens.

And before you say no one would ever do that... we've seen teams decline a DOG taken intentionally on 4th down before - one might decline this penalty in a similar situation (team punting at a spot on the field where the extra 5 might help the punter keep it from going over the goal line).

They'd have to notify me that they didn't want the yards -- I'm not chasing someone down to ask them.