Rule Proposal - Offense Pass Interference

[EmotionallyUnstable]

This will never happen…but out of curiosity, I’d love to hear what people think:

 

Since defensive pass interference and defensive holding result in an automatic first down, it only make sense to me that a similar offensive foul should result in a loss of down.

 

Again, I know the pass happy and offense friendly NFL would never go for this, but doesn’t that seem to make sense?

[boyst]

So the few times it's called it'll be unfair because refs seldom call it. A lot of times it happens off camera. And it still helps the play because it makes defense commit to a man breaking open, specifically Kelce or Gronk. 

[Big Turk]

9 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

This will never happen…but out of curiosity, I’d love to hear what people think:

 

Since defensive pass interference and defensive holding result in an automatic first down, it only make sense to me that a similar offensive foul should result in a loss of down.

 

Again, I know the pass happy and offense friendly NFL would never go for this, but doesn’t that seem to make sense?

 

Nah, offensive penalties are almost never loss of down except intentional grounding.

[Nextmanup]

49 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Nah, offensive penalties are almost never loss of down except intentional grounding.

Yeah, but his point is it should be a loss of down.

 

I don't necessarily disagree.

 

 

[RyanC883]

2 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

This will never happen…but out of curiosity, I’d love to hear what people think:

 

Since defensive pass interference and defensive holding result in an automatic first down, it only make sense to me that a similar offensive foul should result in a loss of down.

 

Again, I know the pass happy and offense friendly NFL would never go for this, but doesn’t that seem to make sense?

 

I don’t necessarily disagree.  My concern would be refs calling it even more infrequently. 

[BuffaloBillies]

Not a bad thought at all.  Sometimes a late offensive push-off prevents a potential interception. And would make teams think twice about running pick plays as much. 

[blacklabel]

I've always hated when stupid little five yard penalties result in an automatic first down. Seems dumb. 

 

I've also always thought "half the distance to the goal" is dumb as well. Why not kick the first down marker further down field in those situations? A team is backed up on their own five yard line, any penalty is gonna result in the loss of 2.5 yards, big whoop. But if they're on their own five and take a holding penalty, now the first down marker gets moved from the 15 to the 25 and it'd be 1st (or whatever down) and 20. Thought that always made a bit more sense, surprised it's never been proposed. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

No. Actually get rid of automatic 1st downs. Such a dumb rule.

3 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

I've always hated when stupid little five yard penalties result in an automatic first down. Seems dumb. 

 

I've also always thought "half the distance to the goal" is dumb as well. Why not kick the first down marker further down field in those situations? A team is backed up on their own five yard line, any penalty is gonna result in the loss of 2.5 yards, big whoop. But if they're on their own five and take a holding penalty, now the first down marker gets moved from the 15 to the 25 and it'd be 1st (or whatever down) and 20. Thought that always made a bit more sense, surprised it's never been proposed. 

Or place it on the 1.

[sullim4]

There are two common fouls that result in a loss of down - intentional grounding, and an illegal forward pass where the pass occurs beyond the line of scrimmage.

 

These fouls fall into the same category - the offense is doing something especially egregious to avoid a bad play like a sack (intentional grounding), or to try to draw a penalty after a gain which would result in an additional down (as an illegal forward pass is a spot foul).

 

I think the second case is the interesting one.  Say it is 2nd and 20.  The quarterback gains 10 yards on a run and is about to get tackled.  He heaves the ball forward and it's incomplete.  That's a 5 yard penalty from the spot of the foul.  If not for the loss of down, it'd be 2nd and 15 instead of 3rd and 15.

 

Basically - loss of down is there to prevent the offense from doing something like taking a penalty or throwing the ball nowhere and cancelling out a good play by the defense.  OPI doesn't fit into this category.

Edited October 21, 2022 by sullim4

[Dr.Sack]

Would like to see more consistency, but I think we can all agree a penalty should be called if there is a penalty. Tripping, holding, OPI, DPI. 

[GETTOTHE50]

Makes sense. League desperately wants more offensive games though. I mean who can blame em after all these goddamn broncos games.